- JD McNugent
- 78 Comments
- 1239 Views
My employment anniversary is coming up soon, which means it’s time to remind the boss that I need a raise. My Bentley ain’t gonna pay for itself, right guys! Working for a small firm has its perks, but it also comes with some disadvantages, like a lack of set policies for bonuses/yearly raises.
My previous firm worked like clockwork. Each year on the dot, I got a letter from the partners telling me what my raise would be. I would then spend the next week either doing the chicken-dance, or struggling with my sense of entitlement and wondering whether my ass was on the chopping block because I didn’t get the raise I expected.
How does your firm handle raises? Do you have to remind your boss that you’re worth more than they are paying you? Does the raise come automatically in the form of a letter from the accounting gods? If you are one of the lucky few to receive yearly raises, what percentage of your salary does it amount to?
Anything else going on out there in the legal community that you want to talk about? We usually get our best tips from the Friday Open Threads, so let it all hang out.
-JD
(Image from here)
Small firm, no set policy. I am a first year, so when my anniversary comes up I don't know that I will ask for a raise. I am paid more than most first years in Vegas. Next year, however, I will ask.
Related:
Nancy Rapoport expects law schools to close:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XnSp6HmeFc&feature=player_embedded
I nominate Boyd, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Cooley (sorry, Barry!), California Western, Stetson, Barry and pretty much the entire third and fourth tier. Those stench pits are scams and need to be closed.
It would certainly create barriers to entry that would help Nevada attorneys if Boyd closes. That said, Boyd is a much better school than the others listed. It has much more capable incoming classes, and the work I've seen from Boyd grads generally trumps work I've seen from third and fourth tier grads (especially taking into account experience of the attorney). Almost every state has at least one law school, and several have multiple. That considered, the competition from Boyd grads isn't that stifling.
http://www.lvrj.com/news/mystery-defense-motion-raises-stakes-in-medical-kickback-case-148637895.html
I wonder what "public scandal" this "mystery defense motion" is all about??
11:08 – Just in this region, you could also shut down Western State, Golden Gate, USF, Willlamette, Loyola Marymount, McGeorge, USD, Southwestern, Whittier, Lewis & Clark, Gonzaga, Seattle University, Pepperdine, Arizona State, Chapman, and UCI. No one (except possibly the ridiculously-overpaid faculty) would even notice.
2:36, since this is anonymous, where did you and 11:08 go to school, and, do you believe you are above average lawyers? Sincere curiosity.
2:36- Arizona State is a top-30 school now. Don't think they're getting shut down.
I'll guess @2:36 went to Arizona since he/she included ASU in the "Shut em down list".
Good attorneys come out of all kinds of schools. The smartest guy I know went to DU because his wife has a killer job in Denver. I know a brilliant UNLV grad that went to UNLV because he had kids and a job in town. Both could have got in anywhere.
Additionally, I've looked at bios for the head partners at all the major firms in town, and most went to non-top schools.
The more attorneys that graduate every year, the harder the competition for clients, but I don't think that's reason to limit opportunities for capable people. If you as a superior attorney offer a better product, then you'll be compensated. If not, the lowly second and third tier grads will take your clients.
2:36: Your list of schools contains patent problems. I will give you the opportunity to go through your list and pick out the obvious misnomers therein before roasting you any longer.
11:08 here.
I attended Brigham Young University for both undergrad and law school. I am proud to say that because BYU has been a beacon of ethical behavior compared to the other 199 ABA schools. If other schools behaved like BYU, the legal profession would not be in this mess.
About half of the kids at Boyd are there because they couldn't get into BYU. I don't mean to crush dreams, kids, but even BYU grads are having a difficult time getting jobs these days. If that is true, what are you chances further down trough at a borderline third tier law school like UNLV?
Perhaps 2:36 would nix ASU because she belives a state the size of Arizona really doesn't need more than one law school. Just a guess. She also nixes two in Oregon and two in Washington; so there's a theme there.
3:32:
"Patent?" "Misnomers?" "Therein?" Drop the legalese and don't be such a douche.
4:27: Wash your mouth out or whatever part you think your "douche" appropriate for
3:33 – Please, please give some indication that you're being sarcastic. I thought you were serious for a second.
11:08, 2:36, get off your high horses. If you practice in this town you are surrounded by grads from these schools. What makes you think you're clever enough to judge? Even the top ten schools lobby against the US News Rankings each year.
I agree with 3:51 – the point is that we simply need fewer law schools. We're goint to end up consuming ourselves if we don't stop adding to the lawyer population. The work just isn't there. There are too many vultures trying to eat the same decaying carcass.
Well put!
There's nothing wrong with BYU. It's a fine school. But bragging about BYU while putting down UNLV is like bragging about Cal Western while putting down Cooley. As far as major employers go, both schools are not really on their radar, and as far as Vegas employers go, the difference between the two isn't that significant or relevant. If you went to a top-20 school, I'd be more apt to agree with your premise. I could be wrong, but I doubt there's a major firm in Vegas that's more willing to hire either school over the other. I'm at one of the bigger firms and I know that's true here.
Although 3:33 is being sarcastic, he/she is not too far off from reality.
And what's the deal with ASU's meteoric rise in the rankings? I'm guessing some cooked employment numbers. Solid school, but it wasn't even top 50 three or four years ago.
The rumor is they hire any grads who can't get work, so they can report ridiculously high employment numbers. Seems very shady.
That's not even a rumor. ASU has admitted that they hire students who can't find jobs. Coincidentally, those jobs last just about long enough to report the students as employed.
11:08/3:33 here.
It's a fact that there are many firms in this town that consistently hire BYU (and now and again a Utah grad) over anyone from Boyd. It's a fact that BYU's LSAT/GPA numbers are significantly higher than UNLV. It's a fact that about a third of the kids at UNLV are LDS and were rejected by BYU. What am I missing here?
I'm betting 8:44 works at H&S. What a smug a-hole.
US News rankings are tied almost entirely to numbers — LSAT and undergrad GPA. This is too bad b/c it makes the competition second think an admissions decision on what it will do to their overall average and so their overall ranking. There are people out there who are extraordinary and will make extraordinary lawyers yet get culled out while others who went to easier undergrad schools or prepped for a life time to take the LSAT are admitted. Worshipping averages rewards in-system kids and mediocrity and that's worrisome.
I just sent the long post right above. But I didn't finish it. What I wanted to end up with is that school ranking doesn't mean much outside the top 10. After that achievement does–performance IN lawschool not BEFORE lawschool. So, class rank, moot court, law review, all that mean more than schools once you're out of the top 10. I think that is how most employers see it too.
and of course once youre out of law school it again becomes meaningless — how many people know where don campbell, randall jones or bob eglet went to law school? or care?
well i went to a top 10, and i think the difference between byu and unlv is the difference between number 2 and 3 at the special olympics. i.e. the firms that want to hire me think youre both nobodys. grads from neither school will ever get offers from the firms offering me unless you wasta a year as a 9th circuit clerk
425 here shouldnt have posted that the unwarranted hubris of the byu grad got under my skin us top 10 grads arent douches and really understand the lsat/gpa game is a joke sorry if i pissed anyone from unlv off
"11:08/3:33 here.
It's a fact that there are many firms in this town that consistently hire BYU (and now and again a Utah grad) over anyone from Boyd. It's a fact that BYU's LSAT/GPA numbers are significantly higher than UNLV. It's a fact that about a third of the kids at UNLV are LDS and were rejected by BYU. What am I missing here?"
There are many predominantly LDS firms who consistently hire BYU grads. That's what your missing.
4:25 – For me, I don't understand why a grad from a top 10 school would choose to live here. This is great place for us non-top 10 lawyers to practice because firms don't care, even the big ones. Isn't the best thing about a top notch education the options it affords its grads?
@4/22 8:44p (since there are 2 8:44)— In answer to your question: Don Campbell went to Creighton, Randall Jones went to Cal Western and Bob Eglet went to McGeorge.
@4:25– Please tell me at your "Top 10" that the school shared with you that punctuation and capitalization matters. If you do not ride in on a high horse, no one will need to knock you down to the level at which you are, which is trolling a Law Blog at 4:25 on a Saturday afternoon.
10:57 – anyone can look that up on the bar's website. What is that supposed to prove? Also, most people understand that a posting on a blog is not a brief.
I went to a crap school and my grades sucked and I'm one of the top 1% of attorneys in town. Going to a great school might help you get an initial job, but the fact is that we're predisposed to be talented or lack talent when we come out of our mother's womb.
@ 8:50— What does it prove? Well the debate seemingly grew out of a proposal that a variety of law schools in the West be closed and has focused on the quality of law schools and alumni that they churn out, including someone proposing that there might be really fine attorneys in town who graduated from said institutions. Someone else named 3 relatively esteemed attorneys- 2 of whom it turns out graduated from schools which were proposed as being subpar. So linking it up, many fine attorneys graduate from institutions which might otherwise not garner esteem.
While most people understand that a blog is not a brief, if someone comes in touting the superiority of their education and claiming that 2 other schools are akin to the Special Olympics, it is fair to challenge that self-admitted hubris when it bears out in a person who is struggling with fourth grade grammar.
I dare say that I have hired more attorneys in the last 20 years than any other poster thus far. Ambition, effort and attitude carry the day every time. We will teach you to be a good attorney. Where you went to school doesn't mean squat.
@9:10 – I missed the Las Vegas attorney rankings this year. How did you get to be in the Top 1% of attorneys in town? I'd personally put myself in the top 0.5% of attorneys in town. We're an exclusive group.
Sometimes when I look at the pleadings from opposing attorneys, I think that all it takes to be in the Top 1% of attorneys in Las Vegas is the ability to write a coherent and mostly grammatically correct sentence. So I can see how 9:10 might have mistakenly put himself in that group.
You will not get a raise this year. But you will be promoted to senior associate and have more responsibilities … and by the way, your billables will still need to be done. 🙂
I think the top 1% of attorneys in this town spend a lot of time and money making the elected judiciary predisposed to giving them certain advantages. Just my opinion of course.
@9:27 – Definitely a big part of what they do. It's also something non-top 1% lawyers do too (and if they're not, maybe they should be).
Ballard Spahr has a terrible website.
8:34 — You can start with the Best Lawyers in America listing which I believe is about Top 1.5% or so.
Even better, although my name is in there every year and has been for years, more to the point, I would conclude that my annual income puts me well into the Top 1%of attorneys.
I recognize that this is anonymous, but I assume my point is proven.
“I assume my point is proven.” The only thing you’ve proven is that you likely have a tiny penis.
2:02- the only point you've proven is that on the Internet, no one knows if you're a dog.
The fact that you think your income puts you into the top 1% is a sign that reality and your thinking have long parted company. Feel free to post your name if you want to prove otherwise.
If you are taking the time to post on this blog, you defenitely are not a top 1% attorney in Las Vegas. I call BS on you sir.
or definitely
well i am the number 1 attorney in this town, based on esteem, rankings, income, trials won, just everything.
i am seriously laughing my ass off at the things people post anonymously on here, i mean, WOW!!!
in my opinion, the top 1% of nevada attorneys are the ones who are licensed here, have firms here, and who sit around in beverly hills drinking cocktails all day because they are so rich they no longer have to practice. if income defines you, then that is the summit.
I can say, with a fair amount of certainty, that the "number 1 attorney in this town" would neither have the time to post incessantly on this blog, nor use the phrase "i am seriously laughing my ass off."
And, in my opinion, the top 1% of nevada attorneys would never spend their time "stting around in beverly hils drinking cocktails all day because they are so rich they no longer have to practice" because the top 1% of nevada attorneys enjoy the practice of law, which is why they are the top 1%, and the reason "they are so rich" is becuase they don't "sit around in beverly hills drinking cocktails all day." But I am sure poolside in beverly hills is where you are posting from at this very moment, right?
@4:01 you very clearly do not understand sarcasm. at all. christ on a bike, go hide in a hole somewhere.
9:44 ok, you were right on the first point. I hadn't read carefully enough. However, I still disagree with you on the second point. There is an obvious difference between not knowing grammar and simply being knowingly careless when posting on a blog
Intentionally careless? Did you really go to law school? After reading the back and forth, I am beginning to think you only aspire to apply someday. Nevertheless, if I am wrong, it is clear that 9:44 is the better attorney, no matter where he/she went to school.
Or, maybe you're just trying to keep a slowly dying discussion lively. In which case I commend your efforts.