If you ask me, I think that the insights offered in this column are all that you need to succeed as a small-firm attorney. I have received many emails, however, suggesting that facts might be as valuable as my opinions. Of course, that’s crazy.
Recently I received an email from a young small-firm associate who wrote that he was going to ask his boss for a raise but, unlike Biglaw, he had no idea what other associates at comparable firms were making. He appreciated the survey results given by my predecessor, Josh Dickinson (available here and here), but he wanted more specificity. And only 650 people responded to the previous survey, the majority of them junior associates who were relatively new to small-firm practice. Let’s see if we can do better than that.
Please click here to take the survey.
Pursuing The Pro Bono Story: A Conversation With Alicia Aiken
This Pro Bono Week, get inspired to give back with PLI’s Pursuing Justice: The Pro Bono Files, a one-of-a-kind podcast hosted by Alicia Aiken.
If we get enough responses, I will attempt to compile results that offer the information available to Biglaw associates (i.e., average salary per class year for __ hours billed in ___ city).
Knowledge is power, my friends. Maybe we can all ask for a raise (except for the lucky few who make the amounts we will ask for). Or, if we all make too little, maybe we can arrange a little gathering, a la Madison, Wisconsin.
Small Firm Compensation Survey [Survey Monkey]
Chrometa: Turning Time Into Billable Value For Modern Lawyers
Adoption of Chrometa represents more than a technological upgrade; it reflects a professional philosophy that values accuracy, transparency, and efficiency.
When not writing about small law firms for Above the Law, Valerie Katz (not her real name) works at a small firm in Chicago. You can reach her by email at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter at @ValerieLKatz.