Getting $100M in the bank via a big law career Forum

[Anonymous User]

I am wondering whether people have considered how attainable it is to earn $100 million in career earnings in big law. My intuition is that you have to be very lucky. There's the idea that you could become an equity partner at your firm and hope that the PEP amount rises to a double-digit number so that in 10+ years, you will have made $100 million. Alternatively, you could join a startup or found one that quadruples from its initial valuation, and all of a sudden, you're left with a hundred million dollars worth of stock. Or you could become the head lawyer for a large financial institution like Coleman Sacks or JPMorgan. But outside of those things I think it's quite hard to touch $100 million as a corporate lawyer, does anyone else have thoughts on this?

[soft blue]

I am wondering whether people have considered how attainable it is to earn $100 million in career earnings in big law. My intuition is that you have to be very lucky. There's the idea that you could become an equity partner at your firm and hope that the PEP amount rises to a double-digit number so that in 10+ years, you will have made $100 million. Alternatively, you could join a startup or found one that quadruples from its initial valuation, and all of a sudden, you're left with a hundred million dollars worth of stock. Or you could become the head lawyer for a large financial institution like Coleman Sacks or JPMorgan. But outside of those things I think it's quite hard to touch $100 million as a corporate lawyer, does anyone else have thoughts on this?

It is obviously extremely hard, but not inconceivable. (Which is very different from even ten years ago.) I think that regarded but not top-top-tier rainmakers can pull $10mm plus. The $20mm package has absolutely happened for folks at the top of their game. Question becomes lifestyle creep, personal investment results, whether firm economics go south, etc.

[Lacepiece23]

I am wondering whether people have considered how attainable it is to earn $100 million in career earnings in big law. My intuition is that you have to be very lucky. There's the idea that you could become an equity partner at your firm and hope that the PEP amount rises to a double-digit number so that in 10+ years, you will have made $100 million. Alternatively, you could join a startup or found one that quadruples from its initial valuation, and all of a sudden, you're left with a hundred million dollars worth of stock. Or you could become the head lawyer for a large financial institution like Coleman Sacks or JPMorgan. But outside of those things I think it's quite hard to touch $100 million as a corporate lawyer, does anyone else have thoughts on this?

Probably easier to do as a personal injury lawyer but it can be done either way. The problem with law is that it’s pretty hard to continue making that amount of money without putting in an insane number of hours.

[Mr. Jones]

If you want that kind of money, don't be a big law lawyer. That's a safe job or you'll make plenty of money. Be a really good personal injury lawyer and land some big trials. Pull a $50 million dollar verdict against Starbucks for a burn? Your 20 million contingency is pretty good.

That said, most BigLaw attorneys can't try a case like that.

[Chapter Eleven]

If you want that kind of money, don't be a big law lawyer. That's a safe job or you'll make plenty of money. Be a really good personal injury lawyer and land some big trials. Pull a $50 million dollar verdict against Starbucks for a burn? Your 20 million contingency is pretty good.

That said, most BigLaw attorneys can't try a case like that.

Just run two parallel scenarios including all the main variables (and the probability of each step happening), and estimate the overall chance of reaching $100M through PI vs. biglaw. Given how many PI attorneys out there because of this mindset, my educated guess is that biglaw is a bit more doable (noting that both are still at less than 1%).

[Lacepiece23]

If you want that kind of money, don't be a big law lawyer. That's a safe job or you'll make plenty of money. Be a really good personal injury lawyer and land some big trials. Pull a $50 million dollar verdict against Starbucks for a burn? Your 20 million contingency is pretty good.

That said, most BigLaw attorneys can't try a case like that.

Just run two parallel scenarios including all the main variables (and the probability of each step happening), and estimate the overall chance of reaching $100M through PI vs. biglaw. Given how many PI attorneys out there because of this mindset, my educated guess is that biglaw is a bit more doable (noting that both are still at less than 1%).

I’ve done biglaw and do plaintiffs work. I know multiple PI attorneys worth this much. I know no biglaw attorneys.

[soft blue]

Curious, how? My uninformed opinion is that slip-and-fall is a volume game and if you're John Morgan (or his local equivalent) it prints for you but most cases are no-to-low value. Is it something more statutory (wage & hour, antitrust plaintiff, false claims act whistleblower)? Med mal fatalities? Asbestos / talc / enormous class torts? The guy talking about the $50mm Starbucks burn case seems facially unserious.

[Lacepiece23]

Curious, how? My uninformed opinion is that slip-and-fall is a volume game and if you're John Morgan (or his local equivalent) it prints for you but most cases are no-to-low value. Is it something more statutory (wage & hour, antitrust plaintiff, false claims act whistleblower)? Med mal fatalities? Asbestos / talc / enormous class torts? The guy talking about the $50mm Starbucks burn case seems facially unserious.

Not sure if this was directed to me. But generally speaking PI does better than biglaw at all parallel levels. For example, let’s say you’re looking at the very top, Tom Kline, Mark Lanier, John Morgan, Nick Rowley, and the list keeps going, makes dwarf top biglaw partners. They are clearing much more than 20 mil a year or at least on average over a few years.

As for the next realistic tier, the biglaw partners making around a million, I’d bet you there are many more PI attorneys making this amount than the equivalent amount of biglaw partners. I know because although I do employment law and don’t make that much, these are my friends and I’m frequently talking with them about how much they make.

They can make this doing volume slip and fall or taking on more complex cases.

I know associates at top med mal shops that clear close to a million.

You can make good money from catastrophic injuries, med mal, product defect, mass torts, etc. class action attorneys also obviously do well too, but I don’t know as many in that world.


The biggest lie is that biglaw is the best way to make a lot of money doing litigation. For transactional, yeah, it’s usually necessary to go that route.

[soft blue]

Not sure I agree with your post. The top fifty-ish biglaw partners comp by comp are pulling in $20-$30mm range. (e.g. it was publicly reported recently that the head debt workout guys at both Simpson and Kirkland make this much, along with public reporting says the co-head of Gibson's litigation group makes more). It makes sense to me that a John Morgan-type - someone who founds and essentially owns (as I understand it) a huge national law firm - would pull more than those types.

Not sure what the million-a-year tier looks like; I think that's the first year partner tier at every AmLaw 20. It's no longer crazy for a well-regarded young rainmaker who is very much not top of the totem pole to get $7mm+ offers.

I don't know much about PI but I think saying that it's strictly better on comp at all parallel levels is just obviously wrong. Juniors are the obvious example. Do the top PI firms (not like Susman, etc., that do plaintiffs' work) pay biglaw market for junior or midlevel associates? No way. That said, it would not shock me if, outside, like, the top ~10 legal markets, a successful PI attorney makes more money than a successful deal lawyer or defense lawyer.