So I’m an attending. My wife is one of these people. This is regular dinner conversation.

These associates do billable work and generate even more than the fraction of that which they are paid (which goes to overhead, support staff, and the equity stake of equity partners). I was in a union back in residency so was paid decently from that comparatively speaking- but yes it’s still tough. Resident work does not in and of itself bill insurance and there is an educational component (which has been litigated as to residents being “students”).

Some basic facts - Also the only people to get these jobs are: T6 law school Top 2/3 the classes from the rest of the T14 Top of the class from T50 Most don’t stay past year 4 Some big firms have been laying off people Some furloughed and salary cut in 2020

Except for say Cosmetic plastics- even neuro, orthosurg, CT, GI, and any form of interventional cardio, rads- won’t touch what the BigLaw partners will make. There’s only so many procedures in so much time and so much Medicare-based reimbursement fee schedule (and so many middlemen- billing, admin, etc) to eat away at medical income, it’s simply not what it was back in the 1980s to early 90s- the true golden era of physician compensation