How do lawyers make money?

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I really don’t understand what you mean by this – do you think lawyers get paid time and a half after 40 hours a week? lawyers earning that kind of money are putting in hours that are incredibly long and often unpredictable-- in fact the same can be true of most lawyers whether or not they are earning that kind of money. whatever you hear in terms of “billable hours” – add a lot more to figure out how many hours a lawyer is actually at work since not every minute is billable by a long shot.

Just about every profession with a preset yearly salary require unpaid “overtime” on top of the 9 to 5 workday. At least pre-economic collapse, bonuses at law firms were largely dependent on extra billable hours.</p>

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The $160k starting salary is becoming even more elusive as more and more firms are cutting salaries. Typically the firms with the highest starting salaries are not taking contingency cases.

Anecdotal evidence here, but I’ve heard that in LA this year, only a minority of “medium law” firms reduced their starting salaries from $160 to $145.</p>

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It is not in the best interests of any firm to treat a good empoyee poorly. But when the going gets tough, a mere employee can be “thrown under the bus” or “thrown to the wolves” for the “good of the firm”;i.e. the partners.

Fortunately there’s some middle ground between biglaw and TTTemps.</p>