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They have less overhead. Most pay a higher % of book because they have less costs, but pay less for pure service work, as they have lower rates.
Technically, 34 years, 1 month and 1 day since my first day at a law firm. (I should be able to count to better because before going to law school I worked as an auditor for almost 4 years)
Less bloat.
There’s a tipping point that varies firm-to-firm and even practice area-to-practice area when biglaw is better (or worse). As an associate with no experience or clients, you’re almost always going to be better with the cushy biglaw lockstep. But as you move up and develop skills and relationships of your own, the balance starts to shift and there comes a point when biglaw politics, bureaucracy, and overhead (including those associate lockstep salaries), start to drag on your comp relative to what you’re producing. If you have work that will leave with you, it could definitely be better to “downgrade” because you’ll be able to keep a larger cut of what you bring in. Whether a gifted $1M book at a smaller firm will really result in higher comp (now and in the long run) is going to depend on a ton of factors.