Re: Starting hourly pay?

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Thanks to those who responded (especially Carol) w/o getting
into a fight with LawGuru.

As a follow up: I met with the attorney in question, and she is
offering $20 per hour for 24 hours a week for p/t employmet with
the potential of profit-sharing down the road. I think I would
learn a lot in her field (estate planning/probate
administration) - but unfortunately have no idea what the local
rates are around here for comparison.

My goal is to open a solo practice. I'm confident that I'm
smart enough to do it, and I have some financial reserves
(though not $50K!). Is it worthwhile to work with this solo for
a while to see how a practice is run, and get some client
contact and experience (of which I have zilch), or should I
decline the offer and continue with my plan to open up a limited
practice in September? For those of you who have worked with a
small firm, or have gone straight out and formed your own
practice, what would you advise?

(BTW-I want to work p/t since I have a 3 year old at home, and
really don't want to work f/t yet. He'll be in school soon enough).

Thanks again for any advice!!

kristi

On 3/15/06, Carol wrote:
> On 3/14/06, Kristi wrote:
>> My question to the more positive members of this group ---
>> (i.e., those not going into investment banking at the first
>> opportunity or lamenting his decision to go to law school).
>>
>> I may be working for a solo practioner in the
>> bankruptcy/probate admin./estate planning field in a
>> relatively small town (~70,000).
>>
>> What is a realistic hourly rate for a part-time attorney?
>> What about part-time independent contract work? I'm not
>> totally new (lots of research & writing experience, but no
>> client experience and new to these fields). I'm thinking
>> $25-$35 for the contract rate, but not sure about p/t
>> employment rate.
>>
>> Thanks in Advance for any advice!
> I guess it depends on what part of the country your small
> city is in. The area I practice is very economically
> depressed and consequently pay rates are much lower than
> those in areas that are more affluent. Does the part time
> carry any benefits? What exactly is the IC work? If you're
> doing it as an attorney I would think that it should be
> close to the going hourly rate of the local attorneys. The
> solo may not be able to pay that though and so if you really
> want the work you may have to decide to opt for less than
> you're really worth. I think $25-$35 (is that hourly for
> attorney work) on the one hand sounds pretty cheap, but
> that's where many new attorneys start out in a firm aorund
> here. So actually that's pretty reasonable.