, Columnist
When Top Lawyers Earn $30 Million, Who Pays?
Higher billing rates are enabling a war for talent, at the risk of making law firms less cohesive.
Making it rain.
Source: Bloomberg
Lawyers have always been well paid, but the riches now available to top performers would make most Premier League soccer players blush, with some legal rainmakers reportedly earning more than $30 million a year.
While the leading firms are incredibly profitable, I’m not alone in wondering whether the pay boom is sustainable. Skyrocketing compensation risks destabilizing law firms and leaving clients feeling shortchanged, while further undermining the idea of law as a profession rather than a commercial enterprise.