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So long old friend
I have an offer from Capco, it was much lower then I expected for the SC level EA at £80k. I'm at a stable role at a bank with a great WLB. My wife is a front line work. So I can take care of the baby, with the next coming soon. My dilemma is, become a consultant or stay where I am at. Consulting looks attractive as I would be speed up my career progression. Though the travel costs and child care does not warrant the base salary Capco Should I take the hit and join capco?
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Where my 90day Fiance army at?
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Are y’all comfortable going into the office yet?
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Does bosch give internet allowance during wfh?
Is this group active??
Is everyone prepared?
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You need to be looking at the larger suburban firms. That’s where I started before moving to big law and that’s the closest thing out there to what you describe. Using NYC as a reference, think Northern NJ, Westchester or Connecticut.
Subject Expert
I don’t think partners at midsize firms are billing 1500-1700. Like in terms of just hours billed to clients, maybe, but being a partner by definition means you have to be responsive to clients beyond a 9-6, if the associates drop the ball or you just don’t have enough associates the buck stops with you. If you don’t get the work done it’s not going to be done. Sorry to be a downer and maybe there’s some places where what you speak of can exist but having worked at a couple midsize regionals as well as biglaw, the partners at the midsize regionals work a lot and cannot get away from the “on call” nature of this job. Certainly they don’t work as much as Cravath scale biglaw, but it’s not that much less and the pay is considerably less.
Subject Expert
$500k is a very good haul in a midsize firm. You’ll need a large client base to justify that. That will likely require more than 1500-1700 hours from you, and you’ll have less ability just to rely on associates than you’d might like. And BD will be on top of your higher hours.
Got it. The hours numbers I mentioned are really just an approximate range of what I think would allow for some WLB - but I could probably go higher (e.g., up to 1850). Predictability over sheer hours is important to me
Mentor
This is certainly possible at a midsize firm. In northern NJ you can do this at many of the regional powerhouses. However, you will need a good size book and the work won’t be a 9-5. You’ll always be on call, but frankly, who isn’t in today’s world? I used to work for a partner at a midsize regional firm who made over $1mm a year and NEVER billed a client for his own time (nor did he do much substantive work either). He was strictly business development and maintaining the work flow for his team—pretty epic gig if you ask me.
Look for succession opportunities. I’m literally on the path to what you’re describing because I found a firm where retiring ACTEC partners didn’t have a succession plan. I left the top T&E practice in the country and moved to the city I want to live in and already have a $1m book of business in my first full year. You have to be entrepreneurial driven and being willing to take risks but honestly it’s not that hard. I get two or three referrals a week from new clients who say their attorney retired and their not sure who else to go to. Not a lot of young T&E attorneys so there is a huge opportunity.
Midwest actually, though the firm is primarily based on the east coast.
Second what A1 said. A wealthy surburb is the way to go.
Following. This is my T&E dream life.
What is your location? There are some firms that have most of what you are aiming for…
Thanks - sounds like a great setup. I don’t necessarily need the job to be a 9-5 but I don’t want to have to drop everything and turn to work for hours when with my family. I don’t want to ask for too much since, as you said, monitoring emails and being responsive are part of the modern workplace (especially as you move up the chain)
Mentor
It’s totally doable then. You will need a large and sustainable book of business. Not Cravath partner large, but big enough to generate $1.5mm+ of billing. And remember your rates, as a partner, will be like $500-600 an hour, with associates from $200-450 an hour. Which also means more clients outside of Wall Street will be accessible!
Mentor
Everything you describe here is achievable as a counsel in BigLaw, except that you’d be a counsel rather than a partner, if that matters to you.