What does compensation structure look like for a first year associate v. someone who comes to the firm with 6 years experience? By what year should one take home a % of their billables? Vacay time?

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This question is too broad. From a biglaw perspective, compensation is usually the same formula -- base + bonus based on billable hours over some threshold. Collection-based compensation is generally reserved for partners, but most firms have some mechanism whereby associates may receive some percentage of collections from originations. Billables are usually irrelevant for compensation because collections drive ultimate profitability. However, on average, an associate is unlikely to receive a significant portion of their salary from originations.

First post, so I didn’t realize I could add more details in the comments. Word count got me. Thanks for your response, it’s helpful. My situation is a bit of a mixed bag, so I think it will be difficult to compare apples to apples. I do criminal defense and family law only and I’ve been doing it for 6 years. I just joined this firm last year. I don’t have required hours that I have to meet, instead, I just have to bring in 200k a year. I live in a smaller city, 95k population, and there are only 6 lawyers in my firm. My base salary is only 65k, but I get a quarterly bonus of 35% of any collectibles above 85k on ANY case I handle. They allocate the 85k across 12 mo and pay me my bonus quarterly. I’m completely on track to meet my 200k requirement. This means I’ll gross about $105k and the firm will gross about $95k from my work. I come and go as I please and no one questions me so long as I’m stay on my $200k track. The ultimate question I’m trying to answer is whether I should break off and go solo, and if I do, would I take home more $ or is my overhead going to run me close to what the firm is keeping. I asked about the first year compensation because if I go out on my own, I will quickly hire an associate fresh from law school. Other thing is all my fees get paid, because they are already in trust before I open the file. Criminal is fixed. Family law is hourly. In Family law, I cease work if the trust isn’t replenished in accordance with my representation agreement.

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