Posted on 06/05/2012 12:13:56 PM PDT by Hojczyk
The BBJ received an emailed tip this week from someone who says they’re an employed, Boston College Law School (BC Law) graduate. The tipster sent screen grabs of a job listing on BC Law’s career site. The post advertises a full-time associate position at a small Boston law firm, Gilbert & O’Bryan LLP, paying just $10,000 per year. (That’s $10K, it’s not a typo.)
Larry O’Bryan, one of the firm’s partners, said he’s received about 32 applications for the $10K per year job, since posting it one week ago. He said that while the pay is low, the lawyer who is eventually hired will gain valuable experience.
The job post reads: “Compensation is mainly based on percentage of work billed and collected … We expect an associate to earn $10,000 in compensation in the first year.”
Ouch.
Here’s what the BC grad has to say about the job post he found:
“I keep an eye on the Boston legal market for openings, because I work outside of MA, and hope to eventually return. Logging onto BC Law Symplicity today, I was shocked to see my alma mater is advertising a full-time job at a small Boston firm where the compensation is expected to be $10,000 per year. Assuming a 40 hour work week, 52 weeks per year, that’s less than $5 per hour by my calculations. To be exact, $4.81 per hour, which is a fraction of minimum wage. For a school that pays cafeteria workers a “living wage,” I find it astonishing that BC Law permits a listing for such an unconscionably low salary.”
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.cbslocal.com ...
Must be part-time. That would take the hourly wage above minimum. Otherwise it would be patently illegal, unless it’s an internship.
Lincoln freed the slaves. He didn’t say anything about the interns.
Definitely either intern or part time....or the story is full of crap. Either way, best of luck to who gets the job.
” Larry O’Bryan, one of the firm’s partners, said he’s received about 32 applications for the $10K per year job “
I always say, if one is going to be a whore, one might as well go “whole hog”......
Maybe Gilbert & O’Bryan has fallen on hard times, and had their one and only ambulance repossessed ?
Either the lawyer will be good (in which case he'll get a raise) or he won't and will eventually quit for a more lucrative career at McDonalds.
Or it could mean that there’s a glut of lawyers in this country and they can actually get someone at that salary.
The arrangement is not that uncommon, but the honesty (estimated compensation of $10K) is. New associates typically don't bring in many clients at all.
Law grads would probably do better just hanging out a solo shingle than paying 66% of what they bring in to the firm.
And I think there is an exception to minimum wage laws for commission-based compensation, and maybe for yearly salary.
All that said, the law market sucks at present. Only a fool would incur massive student loan debt to get a law degree in today's market.
Get in the door and get the experience. The money will follow in time.
I knew of a guy who worked at a major video game studio, at his own suggestion, for free. He knew that after a few months, putting “worked at Bullfrog” would add tremendous weight to his resume (including if he stayed there, they’d hire him for good money). The point was to get in and get experience and prove himself.
Solve the chicken-and-egg “how do I get experience if I don’t have experience?” problem. Leverage the fact that, at that age and life status, you need very little money to live on.
Supply and demand.
In my industry you get what you pay for. Want a non oroductive unahppy employee? Underpay
Not even internships are that miserly. I live in York, PA, not exactly a high cost of living area. My former employer pays mechanical engineer interns (undergraduates, normally in the summer of their Junior year) $18/hour.
“new associate gets to keep say 33% of all the client billables he brings in.”
Reminds me of this brilliant insight:
“The reason employers exist is they represent accumulations of capital. McDonald’s provides free grills, fryers, cash registers, storefronts, uncooked hamburgers, lettuce, buns and ketchup to every employee. Not every person wants to assemble all the capital equipment necessary to sell hamburgers; those that don’t can walk into a place with all the capital already provided and settle down to do what might be their optimal specialty, producing burgers. They don’t get as much return, but then they don’t have capital invested either.
The minimal capital investment, even for these supposed “borderless” technology jobs, is several thousand dollars. For every person in the world that doesn’t have several thousand dollars (which is to say, the majority of them), employers who provide capital equipment will continue to exist.”
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3238149
Likewise, the law firm in question is offering candidates free offices, staff, resources, advertising, brand name, etc. and a $10,000 stipend for a 66% (or whatever) cut of profits. Not a bad deal for someone starting out.
Say billable per hour fees for a firm like are in the $200 range (it’s undoubtedly more). The employee could probably produce the $10k to cover their “salary” in about one week or less. This logic may be flawed but I doubt it.
Great post.
I think “attorney” has the widest salary range of most any profession.
If you’re a petroleum engineer, you probably make 80k to 120k.
If you’re a pediatrician MD, you probably make 150k to 200k.
It you’re a lawyer, you can be 10k or 2 million. I think there are a LOT at the lower end.
Geesh!!!!
The job isn’t meant for anyone. It was posted because of EEOC laws.
It will go to a partners kid who just graduated law school.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.