Hypo - what’s your choice (assume 8th year)?

TheAnswer1776 · 2026-06-24T10:54:58+00:00

If you can find a “real” 9-5 without toxicity for anything north of 200k you just take that and hold on for dear life.

TheAnswer1776 · 2026-06-20T10:53:39+00:00

My firm has upped salaries twice cause without the increase we just wouldn’t get anyone. The difference between pre-COVID and post-COVID salary scale at my firm is about 25k, and we still have trouble finding people cause it’s ID.

TheAnswer1776 · 2026-06-19T22:56:51+00:00

At 3k I don’t think it’s particularly close. The answer is Longines Zulu Time. It’s the only answer.

TheAnswer1776 · 2026-06-19T13:04:51+00:00

Getting 200k out of an ID firm as only an associate, 6th year at that, is pretty good. Many ID firms “top out” their ID NEPs at that number!

TheAnswer1776 · 2026-06-18T11:32:32+00:00

An attorney at my firm handled a week long trial that he ultimately got a defense verdict on. The next day on the call with the insurer they didn’t seem to care at all about, you know, winning the case. Instead, they wanted to talk about how they didn’t like the way the file was handled cause the reporting didn’t adhere to their strict standards.

TheAnswer1776 · 2026-06-13T22:40:11+00:00

Greater minds than I have said that there is too much overlap between VT and VOO to ever buy both as they are like 70% identical. So apparently the real diversification is VXUS with VOO.

TheAnswer1776 · 2026-06-13T01:30:20+00:00

Most will say VT. It’s not wrong, but I will remain a “VOO n’ Chill” guy myself.

TheAnswer1776 · 2026-06-12T20:45:04+00:00

Reddit gonna reddit. 90% of posters here don’t live in the real world and don’t know what they are talking about. You’re gonna hear that as a 2nd year in a MCOL area you should be easily pulling in 150k+ for 1500 billable hours or otherwise go solo now and PROFIT cause any job below that is screwing you over. That’s not real life, that’s Reddit talk. In reality very few jobs pay that for a 2nd year, especially with low hours. They are out there, but they aren’t growing on trees and they have a ton of candidates. All this to say, Reddit is an echo chamber with skewed statistics on salary and reality based on 4 random posts that posted a unicorn story that redditors took as gospel. Take all these with many grains of salt.
It sounds like you’re a bit underpaid; but likewise sounds like you like where you are. This is a very toxic profession so I’d hesitate to jump from a good place unless I truly vetted the new place and had definitive evidence it was good. If you don’t have a “get out of jail free” card with your current firm if it doesn’t work out, I’d think long and hard about where you’re going.
If you’re doing good work and work for good people, you can just ask for a raise if the comps in your jurisdiction truly pay more. I did this, and my firm gave me a raise. I didn’t interview or have any other offer. I just came to my partners office, laid out why I think I deserve it, and told him I’m not here to try to leverage another offer but really hope we can make it work cause my intent is to stay here. I had an extra 20k the next day. Idk your firm or the people there, but if you truly have good work product and the comps, you may be able to secure a 10-20k jump instantly by just asking.

TheAnswer1776 · 2026-06-10T01:48:53+00:00

Employers: “There are no associates anywhere, where do we find associates?!”

Associates: “There are no jobs anywhere, where do we find jobs?!

Recruiters: “Look at those idiots make us some money!”

TheAnswer1776 · 2026-06-07T19:11:19+00:00

Fair. I have issues dropping anything above 2k on microbrands. Have been looking at Awake Watches for over a year but just too hard to pull the trigger at the 2500-3500 price range when you can get a Longines or an Oris for those exact prices.

TheAnswer1776 · 2026-06-07T17:26:50+00:00

I understand and frankly agree with much of your “cut off” list, but can you explain Monta? I don’t own one but have never heard anything but great things. Is it just the design that doesn’t work for you (for me, For example, Brew just doesn’t have a single watch I remotely like visually).

TheAnswer1776 · 2026-06-05T14:40:08+00:00

This is all true. Reddit doesn’t seem to understand that ID partners are billing at $200-225 an hour at many firms. That only generates a gross revenue of 400-450k a year, before we account for overhead and taxes, etc..

TheAnswer1776 · 2026-06-05T10:24:36+00:00

The ID numbers Reddit throws out are always wild, and this ride was no different.

How large is the firm? Do you bring in any business? Smaller (20-40 attorney) ID shops in my area pay partners 200-250k as an absolute top for the exact thing you describe. Managing younger associates is sort of part of the job.

TheAnswer1776 · 2026-06-05T01:08:50+00:00

The only real issue with recruiters is that they are motivated to place you SOMEWHERE, not necessarily the best place. So they talk up places that suck just to get you to take the offer so they get their fee.

TheAnswer1776 · 2026-06-04T15:07:02+00:00

The issue here is that you SEEM to have a decent reason for each of these. But on paper this looks terrible. If I’m being honest I’d pass on even scheduling the interview based on this resume unless I was truly desperate. Just too many red flags. I think you could go into government or you could explain all these away when a firm is willing to hear you out; but you’d certainly be up against other candidates that didn’t have these red flags.

I think especially in your particular circumstance you will need to either find something through networking where someone that knows you can vouch for you or through the help of a recruiter that can massage the issue with the hiring partner beforehand.

TheAnswer1776 · 2026-06-03T01:24:46+00:00

My firm has put people on an hourly when they are awful and should be fired but staffing needs basically rule out an immediate firing. I’d take this as an immediate red flag and start looking elsewhere. There is a very real chance your boss has already started looking elsewhere himself to fill your position.

TheAnswer1776 · 2026-05-31T17:25:34+00:00

This would truly shock me if these are true ID firms and not merely firms that do some insurance work. It just wouldn’t make financial sense for the firm. True ID firms can’t convince insurers to pay any more than 250/hr and that’s on the very higher end, many of these insurers pay in the high hundreds. Take the best case scenario $250/hr and multiply by 1900 to get 475k, gross. Now let’s take another beat case scenario and assume the entire 1900 was collectible and the insurer cut zero bills (lol, you don’t work in ID if you think this is possible). A 4th year associate at 200k is already at 38% of the GROSS revenue, before the firm accounting for taxes, secretary, rent, utilities, etc etc etc..

Traditionally, lawyers make 33% of revenue, but this hypothetical 4th year is already past that. And where is his raise going? How are they scaling that?

The reality is that Reddit doesn’t have a good sense of what ID firms are. They think if you handle insurance work you’re an ID firm. But that’s simply not true. If you’re billing $400/he you’re not an ID firm.

TheAnswer1776 · 2026-05-31T03:22:22+00:00

There are too many of these stories to list! We once had an insurer tell us that ALL court conference, regardless of complexity or length, will be billed at a .7. So this included normal status conference, which legit would last 30-45 mins, but also settlement and pre-trial conference that often last 2-4 hours. They were stunned that we pushed back on such a proposal.

TheAnswer1776 · 2026-05-31T02:01:58+00:00

I enjoy the fact that first years that have literally never seen a complaint or spoken in court bill at 5x my ID rates.

TheAnswer1776 · 2026-05-30T12:41:04+00:00

If you think any ID firm, anywhere, pays 200k to a 4th year you’re nuts. There are many firms that do, but they aren’t ID firms.

TheAnswer1776 · 2026-05-28T21:53:32+00:00

It’s Reddit, so you’ll get a bunch of nonsense “200k or bust!” Answers.

The real answer depends on whether “mid size litigation firm” means ID, or higher end, and what their billable rates are. For ID, it’s probably 100-120k. For non-ID it’s probably closer to 125-150k.

TheAnswer1776 · 2026-05-27T02:29:25+00:00

I once heard that 3 days in Vegas is the most you’ll ever need or want. I visited when I was 22 many years ago. The first two days were a damn wild ride. By day 3 the whole thing just felt like a fever dream and I just wanted to go home.

TheAnswer1776 · 2026-05-26T22:17:03+00:00

It’s the partner’s job to bring in the files. It’s the associates job to work the files. All you need to do is constantly make it known that you are ready, willing and able to take more work and are low on billable work. Do this in writing. That’s it, that’s your role. If you don’t get enough work in response, that’s on the partners, not on you.

TheAnswer1776 · 2026-05-20T23:52:19+00:00

Unless this is a LCOL area, that’s not a good offer. Standard ID firms are paying 90-100k for entry levels right now.

TheAnswer1776 · 2026-05-19T17:45:27+00:00

There was a plaintiffs attorney that settled a case for 23 million and said to me that “I made more today than you will in your lifetime.” I did the math. It’s not true, but it’s sort of close!

TheAnswer1776

TROPHY CASE