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I have found that, while we are replaceable, it’s a long, expensive, and painstaking process at firms to actually replace a good associate. Especially if your partner has high expectations. I’m at a firm where working for partners that have burned through a few associates, the firm will give you an extra bonus to keep you around if those partners like you. Just have to ask around comp time.
1st years are a loss of money even at high billing rates. at best, maybe they are break even. By the time they are 3rd years they are entry level members of a team, and I start to really trust them for depositions, hearings, etc. This is the start of the real value proposition for me. From there on, I value them, give bonuses and other perks in an effort to retain them, and if they leave it is usually to pursue a different type of law (pure PI contingency, etc). We stay friends.
Have to obtain, then train, then retain good workers. If bad at training and retaining, then likely looking at an expensive revolving door to deal with, and probably some unhappy workers, and clients.
One of the equity partners at my first firm told me that associates are like rugs. They are beneath us, we walk all over them, and when they get dirty we take them outside and beat them with a broom - and if that doesn’t work you buy a new rug. He died of a heart attack and we all had a good laugh at his funeral reception that even partners are replaceable.
Funny how some so quickly forget that they started somewhere too..
IMO loyalty is generally a 1 way street in the big law environment. Bosses will exploit it.
I agree with Associate 11. Loyalty and trust result in even more than a raise. I’ve been at my big law firm 9 years and I come and go as I please, I’m known to people around the firm and have a constant steady flow of work, I go on pitches and travel on behalf of the firm (when I want to).
Not all associates are easily replaceable. Some areas of the law have high barriers to entry (complex, highly regulated areas like employee benefits) such that once you get a couple of years of experience in them, you are not easily replaced. It's also great to get into a field like that where most of the work is done at the partner/counsel level, because it means you have a job for life and have way better partnership odds than many of your peers.
I would agree with this. I'm an employee benefits associate with five years. I tried to leave last year and my job offered me a retention bonus and made a decent number of concessions because I wasn't easily replaceable.
In my firm loyalty means nothing and neither does work product (other than being able to keep your job). It all comes down to billable hours and origination credit. Nothing, and I mean nothing, else matters in terms of comp.
A partner once referred to me as a "Fungible billing unit."
Even at the entry level it’s hard to replace really good people with equally good people, so I disagree that associates are wholly fungible, at least in our corner of biglaw. That said associates for sure become less replaceable the longer they work with a firm, main partner(s), and clients, because of their skills and institutional and client knowledge. Also, people who have been around for awhile are by definition resilient and acclimatized to the firm. Those attributes are hard to identify and acquire in the lateral market. Those realities account for part of the fact that Cravath scale associate comp doubles in 5 years. (Profitability accounts for much of the rest of that steep increase). Very few professions provide any opportunity for that rate of compensation growth.
If you’re asking whether a fifth year lifer gets a longevity bump and thus makes more than a fifth year who has only been with the firm for 3 years, the answer at our firm is no. Peoples’ place in the scale depends on their skills and productivity.
I (and my firm) do not buy into the idea that all associates are replaceable. Good associates, and by that I mean hard-working, intelligent, and with good judgment, are extremely hard to find. We definitely consider all of those when looking at raises and bonuses. The costs associated with training a new associate are ridiculously high, so it would be nothing short of foolish for a business to so cavalierly approach one of their most important assets.
Associates are definitely not just replaceable at will. A good associate is incredibly valuable, and I try very hard to make sure that they know they are appreciated and a valued team member. What do I look at for compensation purposes? Attitude, work ethic, intelligence, judgment, team commitment, and knowledge level. Longevity is a factor, because skill and knowledge increase, as does understanding of subtle nuances and creativity. Loyalty is important, and I’m lucky to work with some great colleagues, at all levels of seniority.
I have found it often comes down to the quality of your work product as much as billable hours
So, you want to be rewarded just for not quitting/leaving? Sorry, doesn’t work that way. All comes down to what you produce.
I’ve worked in mills. I hated every second of it and left as quickly as I could.
After a few years I think we associates are more valuable than partners would like to admit, particularly in niche practice areas and non big law firms
I appreciate the associates who are investing in the firm overall. That shows me that they care about everyone at the firm and that makes me much more invested in them. I don’t like feeling like I am
Just a bank account.
The world has changed. We care all a commodity and are treated as such by employers and clients, usually, unless you can build a special long term relationship. Even then, we are subject to the whims of others.
Everyone, every thing in a firm is fungable
Maybe, but at what cost? Finding really good people in the lateral market is expensive and time consuming.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/being-a-law-firm-partner-was-once-a-job-for-life-that-culture-is-all-but-dead-11565362437
“In the new paradigm, lawyers are expendable, and partners may jump to a competitor for the right amount of money, taking as many clients as possible with them on the way out”
Your feelings could be an insight into a changing legal world.