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It depends on the firm. BigLaw associate compensation is more or less public record.
I note parenthetically that in most organizations I have seen, nearly every person is convinced their role is vital and the organization will collapse without them.
In a law firm, I am afraid this is only true of relationship partners and attorneys who are high-level experts in their practice areas.
I was a research librarian for 30 years. While I was paid well, lawyers, including associates made significantly more. It never bothered me. Attorneys make a lot of sacrifices for the money they earn. Of course the three years of law school for starters, but then years of long hours, stress, always on call to their clients etc. Would I want that deal? No.
If you want a career that pays more, then go out and pursue it. I have very little patience for people who complain about their jobs and then do nothing to change their situation.
Finally I was no pushover when it came to my compensation. Several times during my career I had discussions with management regarding my salary. However, I presented evidence of what my peers at other law firms our size were earning and adjustments were made. To have argued about how my bonus or salary compared to the firm's attorneys would have been silly.
To answer your question first… When I was at a small firm my bonus was 6k as a first year attorney. My mid law bonuses were 15k, 17, 20 (big trial award we got that year), and back to 15. Before law school, when I was a legal assistant I had a $2k bonus and also did the billing for my attorneys. I moved up to secretary and bonus went up to 3k and still did the bills. Today I’m in house and have zero support staff, so I am in charge of reviewing our legal bills and managing our billing systems. My bonus was $10k last year and 15k the year before at the company. Raises ranged widely from my current COL increase to the scheduled practice year bumps at the firms.
I understand why you’re defensive in the thread, as I’ve been staff at a firm and had to deal with attorneys, but I think you’re looking at the structure of a law firm the wrong way. Lawyers by their nature will always be more important than staff at the firms, even if the other professionals’ jobs are sometimes harder. Lawyers are annoying to deal with, I agree, but the entire purpose of a law firm is to provide legal services, so it makes sense for lawyers to think the whole firm depends on them, even if there are key functions that the larger firms wouldn’t survive with. It’s the same as an accounting firm—they provide accounting services, which no one but the accountants can do. It makes sense why they’d focus the money on those key service providers. That said, you should never be treated like a peasant by a coworker and not every law firm is that way. I’m sorry you’ve had such a bad experience across the board!
Across most industries people who generate money and manage relationships get bonuses. Move to a job that generates revenue if you want a bigger bonus. Also, unfortunately your job is just more easy to replace.
As a legal biller I actually agree with the attorneys here, yes we make it happen, yes most associates don’t understand billing and don’t know how to bill for their time, the same way they don’t know how to do what paralegals did, however they are the minds doing the work we bill, they are the ones who went through Law School, they are the one with those student loans.. We, as billers are getting paid ok, and it’s actually a fun job, IYKYK, if you want to get paid better change jobs or become a revenue analyst in finance or something like that !
You're having a bad day on this fine Monday.
Okay, yeah maybe see if you qualify for a mental health break.
This has to be rage bait no? Some of my friends (from the world, college etc didn’t meet at work) are attorneys at the same Big Law firm I currently bill at and you are delusional if you think that a) they couldn’t do our job since lowkey it is nottt hard or that b) their work isn’t 10000x more demanding and directly revenue generating and therein deserving of more than we get, not to mention the insane amount of work it takes to even be in that position in the first place. I’m going to assume that maybe you lack corporate experience outside of legal support staff, but the reality is that being support staff in Big Law is CUSHY. I hear people complain constantly about workload or boo hoo he was mean to me like have you ever worked in…a call center? In medical as support staff? I also can not think of a single job that you can get WITHOUT EVEN A BA that pays in the range legal billers, etc can get. This role is just a pit stop for me, but if I was a less ambitious person it is arguably a good gig considering in most other roles that do not require advanced education you can forget about a bonus, you’re lucky to get a pizza party when the company hits its goals. Not to mention I rarely have to work outside of normal business hours, nor do most of my support staff colleagues. I’d get some perspective or if it drives you that crazy that they’re netting so much, maybe a new job where you can net what they do without all the pain in the butt stuff that comes along with being a Big Law attorney.
For non-revenue generating positions, two weeks pay is often considered the benchmark for a good bonus. If you’re making about $100,000 per year, that would be a little less than a $4,000 bonus. Billing specialists sometimes receive a commission on collections of bad debt (for instance if the bill is over 1 year old, they might receive 1-2% of the overall recovery). Billing specialist positions are overhead positions and are not considered revenue generating because a client does not pay the firm revenue for the work a billing specialist does on a day to day basis. The client pays an hourly rate or contingency and that overhead may be baked in, but the client doesn’t pay for direct billing specialist services. Hope this helps.
At a large Midwest firm, my bonus as a second-year associate was $7.5k. I moved to a larger coastal firm and my third-year bonus was $57k. Moral of the story: there’s a lot of variation, even between good firms.
Thank you. I respect that response and I appreciate the honesty.
Must be nice. We don't get bonuses EVER.
Exactly what I was thinking
Rising Star
My bonus was $37k this year. Next year it’ll be $40.
Thank you for sharing that.
I work for a very small firm. I get 2-3 bonus a year around 12k. I used to work at a mid-size firm and received the highest bonus once a year at 5k
Nananina! Thats how much bonus i get 😂
I think it’s also important to mention that attorneys generally get no bonus whatsoever if they fail to bill 2,000 hours (or whatever the firm’s billable requirement is). Big law bonuses are available online. Most others of a decent size probably pay a minimum of ~$15,000 for hitting hours
From someone who does legal billing I actually do pretty well but it depends on the market and firm. I’ve worked from small firms to big law. Never once have I anticipated to make what a lawyer makes. Why? I never went to law school. If you want to make big law money then go to law school or make a manager role for the finance department.
In no way does a person who works on the bills for a firm make sure that the money is coming in. The attorneys who do the work generate the income. Your job is a supportive role, anyone can do it. You should be asking what other legal billers are making and not comparing your salary to those with JDs. You are lucky that you even get a bonus and raises. Go work at McDonald’s.
It also probably depends on the market ... if you are in Iowa you're not going to get what you would in NYC
Personally I think partners and associates should give their assistants a small portion of their bonus.
Partners and associates generally do give their assistants an end of year monetary gift in addition to what the firm gives as bonuses. The amount will vary based on seniority and how much one uses their assistant who usually works for multiple attorneys.
Depends on the bonus structure of the firm. In house is also different and based on performance. Mid size I got 1-2k. In house I got about 11k. the lawyers depending on their performance got 20-40k.
I’ve have over 20 years working in law firm environments. Started in 1999 as legal assistant. Then to paralegal. In 2014 I started as a biller and office administrator at a very small firm. I then moved to a bigger (mid sized firm) and now I’m at an international law firm as an international billing specialist.
I’m now 52 and have lots of thoughts on this.
In the past I felt unrecognized. Where are my accolades? Where’s my huge bonus?
However, when I decided to leave my mid-sized firm I had to really think about why I was making that move and while I was getting a huge salary increase, did I want to just be a number? Was a $25,000 salary bump worth it.
Now I’m middled aged and I have to figure this stuff out.
For me personally:
I love project management and a huge part of billing is just that.
I love creating reports and working in excel and having that accomplished feeling.
I love analyzing and troubleshooting.
I like being behind the scenes. This is why I’m not a lawyer.
I’m introverted, work from home except one in person meeting quarterly.
I took a look at all of that and jumped in and learned an entirely new billing software system and I’m thriving almost a year later.
I don’t work to get verbally rewarded and I’m fine with a review that says meeting expectations.
Sometimes I have to work 10 hour days and some days it’s just my 9-6.
I’m not working to make friends and while yes, I send invoices 5 times my salary, this no longer bothers me. I’m paid fairly.
I’ve worked in law firms the last 30+ years as a paralegal, office manager and assistant. You come across as angry in your post because you feel you should make higher raises and bonuses. You can’t compare yourself to attorneys as their skill set is different. It sounds like you need to speak with your firm and ask about bonus structure for your position. And maybe get with a recruiter and look into a new role. GL to you.