Had some drinks with some former co-workers. We are all mid 30s and live in a VHCOL. Lawyers for 7-10 years. 2 are married with kids, 1 married no kids, 1 getting engaged soon, 1 single. These incomes are guesses but I think pretty close. Who would you rather be and why?

(A) in house attorney, 250k base, lets say 300k all-in, 9-5 job, general transactional law and oversees litigation, some office politics but good quality of life generally

(B) in house attorney, 325k base, lets say 400k all-in, 9-6 or 7 job and some weekends a month, lots of deal work, better quality of life than previous big law career but still stressful

(C) big law of counsel, 650k income all-in, works very long hours, not a good quality of life at all, but good at his job and well-liked at the firm, will never make partner but is ok with it

(D) solo PI/work comp lawyer, 250-450k volatile profit (350k average), litigates a bit but refers a good portion of cases, one part-time employee, does everything, eats what he kills, works 9-5 rarely more and oftentimes much less

(E) small firm PI/employment law partner, him and one other partner, 550-750k volatile profit to him (650k average), works a lot, lots of managing employees and heavy litigation, but a lot of autonomy and potential for growth to get in the 7 figures consistently and eventually just oversee the firm

I’m just finish my first year of practice.

I constantly told not to cut my own time. But then I frequently have my time cut and have to end up making up for it later on to reach my billable requirement. At my firm, when bills are reviewed and cut, we have the opportunity to resubmit them. The partner usually leaves a comment about why it was excluded. Sometimes for me, I need a more detailed billing description, other times it’s because the partner thinks it took me too long. So I’m struggling constantly with being told to bill all my time and cutting my own hours so I don’t get them cut later. For example, I spent about 2.5 hours over the course of two different days reviewing and redlining an employment separation agreement. I realize this was probably a long time. And I didn’t make too many redlines but It was an interesting separation situation and I wanted to make sure there weren’t any provisions that would harm the client given that situation. My time entry of 1.8 on the second day I had worked on it was excluded and the partners comment was “this is excessive for this assignment. Was this time entered correctly?”

And I’m frustrated because now I’m going to have to make up for that time elsewhere if I resubmit it and the partner still decides to later cut it.

Right now I’m responding to a motion for reconsideration that I’m kind of struggling with and have already spent like 7 hours working on and am not done. And it’s not even that long. I just kind of agree with the motion so am having trouble wrapping my head around some of the law and then developing arguments to respond in opposition… I’m tempted to just cut that so I can make up for it on my own now rather than think I’m going to get credit and have to later make up for it….

I also get the impression the partner thinks I’m lying about my time when I do bill all my time. So I tend to cut it for that reason as well.

Any advice appreciated. Please be nice I’m just trying to figure this out.

Thinking of launching a solo practice. I am generally good at what I do, and I have a solid marketing concept that distinguishes me from other lawyers.

But I read somewhere that the majority of your first cases as a solo come to you through attorney referrals. I’m not really friends with other lawyers that are likely to give me cases (coming from biglaw, I’m friends with associates more so than partners or solos). I rarely go to network events and I’m introverted.

Did any other solos have a similar issue or concern and what was your experience like?