Re: Joining a solo attorney, what to expect?

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Let's keep it simple. This is a great opportunity for you.
The attorney will teach you the ins and outs, introduce you to
important people, and pay you. Starting salary in a small
town for a noob attorney should be $30,000 to $40,000.

On 7/22/06, rrr wrote:
> On 7/21/06, Steve wrote:
>> I am a May graduate, and I recently had an interview with
>> a solo attorney in a small East Tennessee town(I'm OK with
>> living there because it is very close to my
> hometown). ...
>>
>> Can anyone give any advice as to what a fair salary
>> structure would be for this type of arrangement? Is there
>> anything I should request in the structure of my salary
>> based on long term considerations? Also, how common is
>> this type of arrangement for someone straight out of law
>> school, and is it a good opportunity for someone who wants
>> to work in a small firm? Is there a good long term
>> opportunity in this type of arrangement?
>>
>> Thanks.
>
> Thats a hard one, though its seems fairly common. What are
> average salaries and costs in small Town Tennessee? How much
> work does he expect to give you?
>
> This is what I would do... go find out the starting salary
of
> a government lawyer in your area... DA, PD, County Counsel,
> etc. Figure out what it comes down to on an hourly. A fair
> salary will be somewhere around there. Not that you might
> not be willing to work for less, but that gives you a
> starting point. If the salary offered is significantly below
> that, you need a correspondingly higher &37; of cases
brought
> in. What he wants is to make sure you cover you share of
> space, overhead, and staff, plus your salary and a little
> profit before you start getting bonuses. On the otherhand,
if
> you are bringing in enough to cover the above, you want to
> correspondingly bring up your percentage.
>
> In terms of percentage, theres going to be some kind of
> sliding scales. So you might get 15&37; of the
> first "something", 25&37; of the next something, etc. Where
> those cut off points are going to be are going to really
> depend on your salary, the cost structure of the guy you are
> working for, and the nature of the market you are in. In the
> big firms they also have a sliding scale bonuses based on
> hours worked, but I'm fairly sure thats not going to be much
> of a consideration at a smalltown practice, but you never
> know.
>
> As a minimal standard you want a percentage of 15&37; of
gross
> collected fee. Ie. if you brought it in, no matter who
works
> on it, you want 15&37; of the amount actually collected from
the
> client. What sometimes makes this messy is that firms like
> to deduct the cost of uncollected amounts.
>
> So for example... You bring in Bob. Your Boss does 100 hours
> of work on Bob's case at $100 and hour, or $10,000 in
> billings. Bob sends in a check for $8000 and says... "sorry
> thats all I got." What you want is 15&37; (minimum) of the
> $8000...as a $1200 bonus. Your boss is going to
say... "whoa
> now, I didn't get paid for 20 hours of work, and that time
to
> me was worth $2000, so no bonus for you."
>
> The reality is that every client is a potential under-
> collection. So you have to work out an arrangement by which
> you adjust the bonus by the actual cost, not the "retail
> charge". And thats something the two of you have to
negotiate
> amongst yourselves.
>
> It requires some honestly and goodwill among the attorneys,
> but its not that difficult if everyone is straightforward
and
> thinks about it. For example... you might agree (as a worse
> case senario for you)that the $8000 is reduced by the amount
> uncollect to a bonus base of $6000 and then muliply by
> the .15, for a $900 cut. Or your boss says that his salary
> cost is $33 an hour minimum so you might agree to reduce the
> bonus base of $8000 by $660 (20X$33) to $7340 and take
> your .15, for a $1101 cut. Or something in between.
>
> Now I'm using the term minimal, because, you have to factor
> in how you are actually getting the clients. But my guess is
> that to start you are not going to be running yellow page
> ads, or anything like that.
>
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