HAH!

Corporate lawyers argue about what has already been created while taking huge fees for themselves. They don’t create a single useful thing. You cannot eat, sleep in, drive or otherwise actually use the end product of any attorney. Corporate lawyers look for ways to shield their paymasters from accountability and from competition while assuring the maximum possible dollar flow into the pockets of the masters and their loyal adjuncts.

The whole field of intellectual property law has in fact held back progress. One of the many reasons China is surging forward is that they value actual results over first-to-file paperwork chases.

The culture of maximizing your personal financial take which dominates the world of MBAs and corporate attorneys is part of the corrosion of American real productivity, community and joy.

Billing $500 + per hour to handle the routine BS of a bankruptcy filing is not defensible.

I can assure you that corporate law involves much more than paper pushing. Even paralegals are much more than paper pushers nowadays. I can also assure you that lots of lawyers have done quite well in math and science. And money is not the only reason people choose law careers. The intellectual challenge and the opportunity to handle important matters are high on the list.

What engineer gets to bill out at over $500/hour?

Guess what, real engineering is harder to do than the paper pushing nonsense which fills the world of corporate law. Most of the lawyers could never have passed any upper division math or science courses to save their lives.

I don’t pity those people. The point of my post isn’t that associates are underpaid (they are overpaid by a factor of 2). My point is that much like a UAW boss or GM CEO, the management gets millions of dollars just for being management.

As for the underlings, I went to law school with them, and I have very little respect for someone that derives their self worth from their bosses’ paychecks. People choose that profession so I have neither envy nor sympathy for them.

jkross22:Also, according to your 2200 hour/year number breaks down to 43 hrs/week with no vacation. I would suspect the number is higher.

It’s not. The key is that we’re talking about billable hours, which comprises roughly 1/2 of an associate’s time in the office.

The actual target for billable hours in a firm like Skadden is 2000-2500 per year (I don’t have Skadden’s actual bonus structure). While that means only 42 billable hours per week, actual time in the office is approximately twice that.

Most of my friends that work at AmLaw100 firms (the largest 100 firms in the US) are billing 2000-2500 per year and spend roughly 80-100 hours a week in the office, and weekend work is expected.

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Giant businesses trying to rip off customers… law firms, car dealerships, or auto manufacturers, it’s the same business model.

Stories like this Plastech one are why giant firms like this are going to go out of business in the next 30 years. Clients just won’t get ripped off anymore.

It’s a miserable life, even if you’re being compensated well to have someone scream at you while you look through boxes and make checklists of checklists. This ain’t no Clarence Darrow glory work.

$75/hr? To shuffle through boxes and file paperwork?

Incredible.

If you hire a lawyer, check your bill closely. The hours are more likely than ever to be inflated. Pity the next poor jurist who tries to cheat me. I settled for a correction last time, next time I am going straight to the government.

Oh, wait, they are all lawyers, too. Shit, we are all screwed.

The important word here is billed. This is only the first round of negotiations, and if, Plastech hits the tubes, well so does the Skadden invoice.

Also, according to your 2200 hour/year number breaks down to 43 hrs/week with no vacation. I would suspect the number is higher.

Jurisprudence has nothing to do with it. Large law firms are about one thing, and only one thing: the billable hour. That is how much clients pay for an hour of your time.

Lawyers don’t keep that money, however.

Partners get paid per annum, most of the ones involved in this action are probably earning $1m per year. The people doing the actual work, about 2200 hour per year worth, are the young associates. While their $165,000 starting salary seems astronomical, when you do the math they are taking in $75/hour.

It’s a miserable life, even if you’re being compensated well to have someone scream at you while you look through boxes and make checklists of checklists. This ain’t no Clarence Darrow glory work.