<p>MOWC, that is interesting. I was just discussing this thread with my DH, and I asked him how new lawyers start today. His opinion was that for a person going to an average law school 300k is just foolish. I asked what happens to the law student who goes instate and accumualtes less debt. He thought a small firm beginning at 60k was reasonable. I guess he doesn’t realize that those jobs are hard to find. My H did not have trouble finding these jobs when he started practicing. In fact, I helped him find a job when we were engaged. He wanted to make more money. I thought he was crazy because he insisted on cherry picking and only sent out 7 resumes. I thought to have a real chance he’d need to send out hundreds. He was called on one interview from those 7 resumes, and he was hired! He stayed there for ten years before opening up his own firm. </p>
<p>He also sees the bad experiences clients have with large firms. He says that one pays more money and often less experienced associates usually do the research and work. He apparently has taken over cases where large firms were intitally hired. DH would agree with you that hourly quotes does not mean much.</p>