Has anyone worked in a firm with “non-traditional” compensation structure ? I.e. you get paid by the billable hour, not a salary with minimum expected billable hours. Pros/cons? I like the concept but a bit concerned about income if I need to take time away from the office (single mom here with two elementary school-aged kids)

likehelpful
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I liked it. I was of counsel for a few years at a boutique firm and got 30% of my gross billables. We did commercial lit, and it was usually really busy, but following a big trial or settlement things would slow down for a month or so. Just need to give yourself a budget. My best month I made $35k, my worst months were around $6-7k. And yes for taking time off you aren’t making $… only make if you bill. I really liked it, but it’s not for everyone.

likesmart

Sounds heavily employer favored. Under traditional structure in a slow year you may not make hours for bonus, but at least your base pay is not "docked." On the other hand if you blow it out of the park and bill a ridiculous amount of hours firms sometimes give super biller extra bonuses ---- those who don't and still pressure to continually bill 2400+ hours lose talent.

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This sounds great. Build up a savings for when you need to cut back hours and you’ll be fine.

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I take home 40-45% of my billed and collected hours. The compensation structure works well if you have a good practice, decent clients who pay with a high collections rate. I would not recommend percentage if you're getting into an area known to be troubled with collections (eg. family or consumer insolvency) or if you have no guarantee of obtaining steady paid work. Having a track record so you can judge your billing cycle is helpful.

I generate half of my own work and receive the other half from the firm. I don't have dependents. I average about $13k per month in gross compensation. I do get a bonus for hitting targets.

You can discuss taking a draw against future earnings with your employer. My firm allows this. I like it because I can go on holidays and still get paid. Theoretically, if I bill under my draw, I would owe the firm money. I take a conservative draw of $9500 a month, which means the firm owes me a large cheque at the end of the year.

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