General discussion - Mom and Dad Esq.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
He takes (probably through an agent- i don't think he actually drives them) books no one wants to some charity. one of two things happen:

Poor kids read bad books and decide they don't like to read, or the charity pays to have them thrown away.
Thanks GGG!

You like your Pistons tickets. I would take give them to charity. Does that mean the charity throws them away or some kid has to see a bad basketball team?

Translation for the simple minded: Greedy's and others' tastes aren't identical.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
You like your Pistons tickets. I would take give them to charity. Does that mean the charity throws them away or some kid has to see a bad basketball team?

Translation for the simple minded: Greedy's and others' tastes aren't identical.

Translation: Burger never watched Seinfeld.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
Translation: Burger never watched Seinfeld.

My mistake. I though that you, unlike not from here, actually introduced original material in your posts.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
My mistake. I though that you, unlike not from here, actually introduced original material in your posts.

I do. I only rely on Seinfeld for the propostion that charities don't want everything.

GGG buys 100 books- there has to be some garbage in that- he takes 50 and "donates" 50. The garbage is in the 50, even assuming that 10 of the donated books have some value. To fix your analogy, GGG isn't donating Piston's tix, he is donating Atlanta Hawks tickets.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
To fix your analogy, GGG isn't donating Piston's tix, he is donating Atlanta Hawks tickets.

No, the better analogy would be your keeping the tix to the Lakers, Bulls, Heat, Sonics, Suns, and Spurs games, while giving to your clients the tix to see Atlanta, Charlotte, and New Orleans.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
No, the better analogy would be your keeping the tix to the Lakers, Bulls, Heat, Sonics, Suns, and Spurs games, while giving to your clients the tix to see Atlanta, Charlotte, and New Orleans.

Ouch! that's a little close to home. Wait, are you Assistant Intellectual Property Counsel Joseph Gilbert III, from Mega-Corp?

Couldn't you have made this complaint via PM?

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
No, the better analogy would be your keeping the tix to the Lakers, Bulls, Heat, Sonics, Suns, and Spurs games, while giving to your clients the tix to see Atlanta, Charlotte, and New Orleans.

I guarantee you, I would donate all these tickets. I would only keep the Celtics, which apparently I didn't get.

To apply it to baseball, I'd happily donate the Yankees seats, but would keep the Mets and Red Sox. Does this mean the Yankees are garbage?

Well, OK, let's stick with the basketball analogy.

(ET correct misspelling)

[mommylawyer]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by pony_trekker
Make sure this isn't bullshit. If he says A but you get there and B is the actuality, then what recourse do you have?

Well to answer a few folks all in one post----
Viet-mom – I took a 40%+ paycut to come to current job so I understand that issue completely. But if he offers me as a base salary what I am making (slightly padded of course when he asked how much I was making here for a 4 day workweek – that’s not a bad deal. Lately, I haven’t actually been getting here at 7:30, but closer to 8:30 and just working while eating but I get to see the kids in the morning and the evening and I like that and so do they. I do think it would be wise to look at this more as flex time rather than part time.

Thanks ‘credit this’ – this was what I needed. They do both plaintiff and defense litigation, with most of the defense work being hourly (won’t give too many names but they have defended Microsoft and Johnson and Johnson) and the plaintiffs work being contingent – so I needed to see what the formula for compensation would look like – I am pretty sure he is contemplating a revenue sharing formula but I wanted to know where to begin the negotiation. I get the impression that ‘em is looking for a mentee so the part time partner track idea is probably where to start. I didn’t know this until the interview but ‘em saw me on our trial team when I was in law school and has been keeping track of me - he knew my resume as well as I did. As I posted, this was the 3rd or 4rth time em has suggested I have a sit down with em. Because firm is small, I also need to think about benefits…not planning on anymore little people, but I provide the household health benefits and need to either add to $ to pay for that or see what theirs looks like. Also not sure what is available for retirement savings etc… but need to factor that into my equation as well…. But you have given me a good start – much obliged…..

Pony – I HEAR you!!! And that is my slight apprehension. I do know that there have been at least 2 other women who have successfully worked part time at this firm – came in part-time and stayed that way – in the past. They both left for other reasons…but not related because of work-load issues….and the 3 year old already says can you get me this on the ‘puter??????

Thanks again… lots to think about….

ml

[Tyrone Slothrop]

I have heard friends on p/t schedules complain that they end up working more than their deal, and I would expect that this would be more of a problem at a small shop, for obvious reasons. No one acts for the wrong reasons, but the best-laid plans go awry and all that. So, if I were cutting a deal like yours, I would make sure to have an arrangement that compensates your fairly, if not more, for additional hours. If you really want to discourage them from working you too much, you could bargain to hike your marginal return as you work more. Or something like that.

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
I have heard friends on p/t schedules complain that they end up working more than their deal, and I would expect that this would be more of a problem at a small shop, for obvious reasons.

This was my observation in litigation boutiques, too. People who were "P/T" were rare as hen's teeth, and the ones who did worked something that looked suspiciously like 9 to 5 for something like 40% of RMSC,* which told us bad things about the supposed premium paid in this profession in comparison to standard 9 to 5 white collar jobs, to the extent these exist anymore either.

It's important to be clear on your expectations about requirements to travel. If your case requires a week of depositions in Philly, your firm will quickly forget that it's unfair to pay you 80% for being out of town for 100% of a week, or even 80% in any week in which you're out of town for 24 straight hours. Any day you're out of town, you get paid 100% salary, no matter how many hours you bill, 'cause sitting in a hotel room means you're not with your kids and you're (presumably) incurring childcare expenses. Revenue sharing means you bear the risk of non-billable time away from your kids and your firm has no incentive not to staff you on those cases. I'd push for something that says you get paid comp time for any travel, so the firm knows you'll take it out of their hide if there's unavoidable travel. Getting paid 35% of receivables for a 10-billable-hour day spent 3,000 miles away from your kid is cold comfort. Measure your week based on hours at your employer's disposal rather than billable hours. And if you say in advance "no out of town travel, ever" this won't be worth the paper it's written on if the client says "she's the one who knows this file; send her." When you go to trial, too, getting paid for hours is not fully making you whole for losing that fifth day off.

If you're actually okay with working out of town, I suggest being clear that the firm carries any additional childcare costs over 80% of a standard workweek, so it's not cutting into your bottom line when the firm needs you to work late. Profit is revenue minus expenses, and if you're doing revenue sharing as a measure of compensation you should insist on expense sharing too.

*Because during the time of my observation small firms generally were well below 80% of RMSC for 2000 hour billers to begin with.

[mommylawyer]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch


It's important to be clear on your expectations about requirements to travel..... Profit is revenue minus expenses, and if you're doing revenue sharing as a measure of compensation you should insist on expense sharing too.

*Because during the time of my observation small firms generally were well below 80% of RMSC for 2000 hour billers to begin with.

You all are a wealth of knowledge and it is much appreciated. I am planning to write out what I'd like as a compensation package and then figure out my dealbreaker at each level .... and the travel is important to consider as I am admitted in NY as well as my homestate so could very easily be asked to work on matters there - i was thinking of requesting additional room etc if we are away for extended time so i can bring my kids ... MIL would travel so....

any other suggestions are welcome - my only experience is biglaw and in house gig and that had very little negotiating compensation.......

ml

So I'm tired of law. Mostly clients, really. And the lawyers. Any ideas what one can do to make money without leaving the babies for very long (besides selling one of them)? OK, unrealistic, perhaps. Maybe I can do something law-related p/t that doesn't involve clients? That would be OK too, even something horribly boring - it would make a nice break, quite frankly.

Yesterday I was hauled into chambers where a judge refused to let me off as corp. counsel until the client gets a new lawyer. Despite the fact that the client does not want me as their attorney, but is too cheap to hire someone new. I've never been keen on the idea of indentured servitude.... To top it all off I have to sit there for 45min (having to pee really badly) while the judge interjects hilarious pregnancy/hormone jokes into the conversation and notes repeatedly that I'm not laughing. Even better when opposing counsel (ass-suck) adds that he has observed that I don't have much of a sense of humor. It was an awesome day.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by TexLex
So I'm tired of law. Mostly clients, really. And the lawyers. Any ideas what one can do to make money without leaving the babies for very long (besides selling one of them)? OK, unrealistic, perhaps. Maybe I can do something law-related p/t that doesn't involve clients? That would be OK too, even something horribly boring - it would make a nice break, quite frankly.

Yesterday I was hauled into chambers where a judge refused to let me off as corp. counsel until the client gets a new lawyer. Despite the fact that the client does not want me as their attorney, but is too cheap to hire someone new. I've never been keen on the idea of indentured servitude.... To top it all off I have to sit there for 45min (having to pee really badly) while the judge interjects hilarious pregnancy/hormone jokes into the conversation and notes repeatedly that I'm not laughing. Even better when opposing counsel (ass-suck) adds that he has observed that I don't have much of a sense of humor. It was an awesome day.

Do you think you could fake a seizure?

[Nut Case, Sensitive]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Do you think you could fake a seizure?

Nutso!

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Do you think you could fake a seizure?

Quite possibly. Tell me more.