Two first years relax after a day of thinking, researching, writing, cite-checking and proofreading, as more senior lawyers stay late to re-do their work, and write off time.
Quick and dirty in the Amsterdam airport. Given the main topic of this blog–clients, and giving clients value–we were surprised that more of the nearly 30 comments we received in response to our recent post focused vey little on The Client. Unless they are committing major interstate mail and wire
fraud, no law firm I know of any size can can bill out associates in years 1 through 3 at anything close to their nominal rates. In my old firm, and in my current one, even a first-rate he/she-“gets-it” associate doesn’t cover his or her costs for a few years (diffenent in different cases and practgive areas) ice. You don’t make money on them, and those years are an investment. And the more sophisticated your clients and practice, the longer the porcess to infuse associates with value takes.
My firm charges fairly high rates, but , the best associates do not cover