Transcript
This question is about the non-partner track.
You can join a law firm, and you don't have to be a partner. Many times you can be a staff attorney, or you can work reduced hours. You can tell them you don't want to be a partner. A lot of people will do. You can tell them you do not want to be a partner, which can be helpful. And then they can keep you as an associate and all sorts of things. Or many times you can become counsel. And that sort of thing. The nice thing is that if you do very good work, the firms are never going to let you go.
I know people that are partners that have been at the same firm for 20 years. In some cases, at big firms you can make half a million dollars a year as an associate. There are firms that will keep people around. If they have the work and other firms will lie to become counsel, others will keep you as an associate. Others will allow you to work as a staff attorney, even sometimes as a contract. I've seen people leave and then come back and work as a contract.
There are all sorts of things you can do as a non-partner in a firm and that firms will tolerate. The problem is, anytime you get off the competitive track where you're working reduced hours, or you're an associate, you become council or contract, then you just become more vulnerable to losing your job. Typically most law firms want to keep around people, in one word gunners, which means they want the hardest working people there, and they want to have a culture where there's hard work.
I've had instances before where I've had highly qualified candidates that are at really good firms, and they want to go somewhere, they want to work. They want not to be a partner and the law firm basically will say, "No, that's not how we do things around here. Sorry." And that happens. You need to be aware of that. There are law firms where that's not acceptable until you just need to do that. But a lot of firms will tolerate it. If you do good work and you're willing to accept the compensation they offer.