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<p>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.</p>
<p>also to the OP – there are different ways in which lawyers are paid. lawyers can be paid a retainer – fixed sum up front that covers certain defined work. they can be paid hourly – most lawyers record their “billable” time in fractions of an hour (when i was in practice a tenth of an hour was the norm, i don’t know what current practice is). and yes to earn enough to pay associates that kind of salary the hourly rates being charged are huge – that’s why clients don’t want to hear excuses – they want their work done when they want it done. and lawyers can also be paid a contingency fee – which seems to be what you are referring to when you refer to a lawyer getting a piece of a settlement – the lawyer takes the case with the understanding that he gets a pre-agreed percentage of the recovery – not all cases are taken on that basis.</p>
<p>the compensation between a law firm and a given client can include any combination of the above.</p>
<p>at large firms these days there are equity partners (who get a share of the profits) and non-equity partners (who don’t).</p>
<p>an associate is an employee - his/her salary is set ahead of time and he/she may also earn a bonus at the discretion of the firm. what the law firm earns, whether thru retainers, hourly billings, or contingency fees, doesn’t effect that except to the extent that high earnings allows a firm to give generous bonuses - at their discretion. but when firm earnings drop as they have lately, you can not only end up with no bonuses, but layoffs.</p>