I have had a lot of success in my position at my firm. Clients have been extremely open with their appreciation and desire to work with me. I have far exceeded my billing requirements by over 75-100 hours each month. What is the best way to seek a midstream raise? Also, what is a reasonable raise. Is asking for 15-20k ridiculous when I think I have earned it?

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A good rule of thumb is salary should be around 1/3 of your collections. That doesn't account for if your firm puts more emphasis on nonbillable work, client development, etc. It sounds like you're doing a substantial amount of work, if you've kept that pace up all year I do think a solid raise or large bonus is in order. For you, a raise is preferable and for the firm, a bonus is, so be prepared for your "extra" comp to come in the form of a bonus. But advocate for your profitability and value to the firm.

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This is awesome advice. Thank you so much for your input.

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Is your firm lockstep?

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No.

A2, this isn’t quite right. Total comp, including bonus, should be about 1/3 of collections.

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Not really a rule but some folks say that you can derive a fair associate compensation number by dividing the money the firm receives for an associate’s work by three. In this model the other thirds for to overhead and profit. Some firms may live by the approach but in many firms there are many more factors in play. In biglaw firms generally lose money on 1st years associates because of high compensation levels, discounts, and write offs. Most 2nd years make a little money for the firm but nowhere near 1/3 of their personal collections. When biglaw associates get to the 1/3 profit number depends on a lot of things but it’s often year 5 or after for most people. If it’s not biglaw/cravat have scale a lot of other variables kick in.

So, the rule is more a rule of thumb that applies in some situations, not something that’s carved in stone.

Most important question: see above, are you lockstep? If not, what is your current year, salary, and market? Are the extra hours you're working being collected?

Not a lockstep, 2nd year at this firm, 135k yr. Commercial Litigation, and of the 300 a month I bill around 250 - 225 is collected. 1900 year min. I hope that helps.

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