LEGAL SALARY DATAPOINTS Forum

[Fed_Atty]

Is it true that certain firms will offer to pay off your law school loans if you commit to working for them for a certain amount of time? If so, how does one negotiate this? Thanks.

Hamlin Hamlin and McGill will, in certain cases, particularly if you are already working there in a non legal capacity. Schweikart and Cokely offers it as an incentive for certain laterals.

[Danger Zone]

Is it true that certain firms will offer to pay off your law school loans if you commit to working for them for a certain amount of time? If so, how does one negotiate this? Thanks.

Wat

[bruinfan10]

1) Southern California
2) Small firm
3) First year associate (but second year as an attorney)
4) $100k, eligible for bonus and salary raise every November
5) Billable hours ~1750 (but it seems pretty flexible)
6) M-F, 9ish to 6:30ish

Would you mind PMing me? I'm very interested in this sort of firm.

[Anonymous User]

Is it true that certain firms will offer to pay off your law school loans if you commit to working for them for a certain amount of time? If so, how does one negotiate this? Thanks.

Hamlin Hamlin and McGill will, in certain cases, particularly if you are already working there in a non legal capacity. Schweikart and Cokely offers it as an incentive for certain laterals.

My current boss has a family friend who went to Penn and they claimed that the firm he is currently working tabled that as option which is why he chose to work there ultimately. Thank you for the attempted trolling though.

[Trig]

1) Southern California
2) Small firm
3) First year associate (but second year as an attorney)
4) $100k, eligible for bonus and salary raise every November
5) Billable hours ~1750 (but it seems pretty flexible)
6) M-F, 9ish to 6:30ish

Would you mind PMing me? I'm very interested in this sort of firm.

[xenxes]

a) Telecommute with small firm focusing on Internet companies & IP, usually work at home out of NorCal, but I'm house sitting in England for a month in May, this flexibility is more important than pay, which is not bad for the hours
b) 4 years
c) Virtual firm
d) 115k for part-time, equivalent of 900-1000 billable hours, but keep in mind this is on a 1099, additional compensation based on eat-what-you-kill (pay 15% overhead)

[A. Nony Mouse]

Is it true that certain firms will offer to pay off your law school loans if you commit to working for them for a certain amount of time? If so, how does one negotiate this? Thanks.

Hamlin Hamlin and McGill will, in certain cases, particularly if you are already working there in a non legal capacity. Schweikart and Cokely offers it as an incentive for certain laterals.

My current boss has a family friend who went to Penn and they claimed that the firm he is currently working tabled that as option which is why he chose to work there ultimately. Thank you for the attempted trolling though.

I think this used to be a thing and is very rare to nonexistent now. You would also have to be working for the firm already.

[Anonymous User]

Is it true that certain firms will offer to pay off your law school loans if you commit to working for them for a certain amount of time? If so, how does one negotiate this? Thanks.

Hamlin Hamlin and McGill will, in certain cases, particularly if you are already working there in a non legal capacity. Schweikart and Cokely offers it as an incentive for certain laterals.

Heh heh heh. I appreciated this.

[Anonymous User]

Is it true that certain firms will offer to pay off your law school loans if you commit to working for them for a certain amount of time? If so, how does one negotiate this? Thanks.

Hamlin Hamlin and McGill will, in certain cases, particularly if you are already working there in a non legal capacity. Schweikart and Cokely offers it as an incentive for certain laterals.

My current boss has a family friend who went to Penn and they claimed that the firm he is currently working tabled that as option which is why he chose to work there ultimately. Thank you for the attempted trolling though.

I think this used to be a thing and is very rare to nonexistent now. You would also have to be working for the firm already.

I have heard that some firms (not sure which) will still help subsidize law school for some of their patent agents. Granted that this is completely anecdotal and I have no idea of the specifics. Just heard that a friend's boyfriend was a patent agent in Boston and was presented with the option ~4-5 years ago.

[Anonymous User]

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-gr ... chool-debt

[Anonymous User]

a) Small plaintiff lit boutique
b) entry level
c) New York
d) 120K + bonus/benefits etc

[mt2165]

a) Small plaintiff lit boutique
b) entry level
c) New York
d) 120K + bonus/benefits etc

Very interesting. Could you at all expand on the kind of work that you do?

[Anonymous User]

1) Southern California
2) Small firm
3) First year associate (but second year as an attorney)
4) $100k, eligible for bonus and salary raise every November
5) Billable hours ~1750 (but it seems pretty flexible)
6) M-F, 9ish to 6:30ish

Would you mind PMing me? I'm very interested in this sort of firm.

+1 Thanks so much!

[EzraFitz]

1) Southern California
2) Small firm
3) First year associate (but second year as an attorney)
4) $100k, eligible for bonus and salary raise every November
5) Billable hours ~1750 (but it seems pretty flexible)
6) M-F, 9ish to 6:30ish

Would you mind PMing me? I'm very interested in this sort of firm.

+1 Thanks so much!

If you're asking them for a PM too, you can't be anonymous...

[Anonymous User]

a) Small plaintiff lit boutique
b) entry level
c) New York
d) 120K + bonus/benefits etc

Very interesting. Could you at all expand on the kind of work that you do?

Primarily securities and antitrust

[lebongenre]

1) Southern California
2) Small firm
3) First year associate (but second year as an attorney)
4) $100k, eligible for bonus and salary raise every November
5) Billable hours ~1750 (but it seems pretty flexible)
6) M-F, 9ish to 6:30ish

Would you mind PMing me? I'm very interested in this sort of firm.

+1 Thanks so much!

If you're asking them for a PM too, you can't be anonymous...

Accidental anon - sorry about that

[EzraFitz]

1) Southern California
2) Small firm
3) First year associate (but second year as an attorney)
4) $100k, eligible for bonus and salary raise every November
5) Billable hours ~1750 (but it seems pretty flexible)
6) M-F, 9ish to 6:30ish

Would you mind PMing me? I'm very interested in this sort of firm.

+1 Thanks so much!

If you're asking them for a PM too, you can't be anonymous...

Accidental anon - sorry about that

Haha no worries, just want to make sure you get the info you're looking for!

[cowgirl_bebop]

a) Small plaintiff lit boutique
b) entry level
c) New York
d) 120K + bonus/benefits etc

Very interesting. Could you at all expand on the kind of work that you do?

Primarily securities and antitrust

Did you clerk before this, or is this straight out of law school?

[Anonymous User]

a) Small plaintiff lit boutique
b) entry level
c) New York
d) 120K + bonus/benefits etc

Very interesting. Could you at all expand on the kind of work that you do?

Primarily securities and antitrust

Did you clerk before this, or is this straight out of law school?

Straight out of law school - second summer was spent at a different firm in the same field, so it's possible that that had an effect.

[Anonymous User]

Is it true that certain firms will offer to pay off your law school loans if you commit to working for them for a certain amount of time? If so, how does one negotiate this? Thanks.

Hamlin Hamlin and McGill will, in certain cases, particularly if you are already working there in a non legal capacity. Schweikart and Cokely offers it as an incentive for certain laterals.

My current boss has a family friend who went to Penn and they claimed that the firm he is currently working tabled that as option which is why he chose to work there ultimately. Thank you for the attempted trolling though.

I think this used to be a thing and is very rare to nonexistent now. You would also have to be working for the firm already.

I have heard that some firms (not sure which) will still help subsidize law school for some of their patent agents. Granted that this is completely anecdotal and I have no idea of the specifics. Just heard that a friend's boyfriend was a patent agent in Boston and was presented with the option ~4-5 years ago.

As a patent agent, yes, there are firms that will pay your tuition when you're already working for the firm (or if you're an attractive lateral hire already in school). A lot of them have catches, though, so just because a firm says "we pay for your law school tuition," doesn't mean they pay for everything (some don't pay for books, some make you pay the tax on the amount they pay for your tuition, so you'll effectively be paying for half your tuition, some will pay for everything but may require you to work at the firm for several years to "work off" the amount of the tuition they paid for you, etc.); if that's something you really want, see if you can ask anyone in your graduating class who's already working at the firm in some capacity what they have to do to get their tuition paid.

I don't know of a firm that would pay off your loans if their first interaction with you is as an associate hire.

[MyNameIsntJames]

1) Southern California
2) Small firm
3) First year associate (but second year as an attorney)
4) $100k, eligible for bonus and salary raise every November
5) Billable hours ~1750 (but it seems pretty flexible)
6) M-F, 9ish to 6:30ish

Would you mind PMing me? I'm very interested in this sort of firm.

Second that. I didn't think a firm like this even existed.

[Anonymous User]

ATL
Amlaw 100
Second year, litigation
$145k, bonus eligible but bonuses aren't even close to NY
Anything over 2000 and you're in the clear.
Hours are all over the place. Some months, I've worked 9-6 most days. In March, I billed a hair under 280 (with zero travel time, mediation, or other easy billables) because three very large cases I'm on got hot at the same time. My hours are a little skewed because I have a couple very big cases, which has made me reluctant to take on some of the smaller stuff until one of the major ones go away.

[ballouttacontrol]

ATL
Amlaw 100
Second year, litigation
$145k, bonus eligible but bonuses aren't even close to NY
Anything over 2000 and you're in the clear.
Hours are all over the place. Some months, I've worked 9-6 most days. In March, I billed a hair under 280 (with zero travel time, mediation, or other easy billables) because three very large cases I'm on got hot at the same time. My hours are a little skewed because I have a couple very big cases, which has made me reluctant to take on some of the smaller stuff until one of the major ones go away.

jw... would you mind sharing what bonuses are like for different class years?

[Anonymous User]

ATL
Amlaw 100
Second year, litigation
$145k, bonus eligible but bonuses aren't even close to NY
Anything over 2000 and you're in the clear.
Hours are all over the place. Some months, I've worked 9-6 most days. In March, I billed a hair under 280 (with zero travel time, mediation, or other easy billables) because three very large cases I'm on got hot at the same time. My hours are a little skewed because I have a couple very big cases, which has made me reluctant to take on some of the smaller stuff until one of the major ones go away.

jw... would you mind sharing what bonuses are like for different class years?

~5-10% of base salary is mandatory with certain hour marks. After that, it's totally discretionary and based on the work you do.

Down here, the only firms that pay close to NY (as a percentage of salary) require you to work a ton of hours. I know a junior/mid level at Greenberg Traurig who got like $60k, but he'd be the first to tell you it wasn't worth it.

[Anonymous User]

first year appellate defender in the non-coastal west - $53k - strict 40 hr weeks - fridays can work remote - REALLY chill work environment