Discover your Income Potential at Stanton Law
At Stanton Law, partner-level attorneys have complete autonomy with respect to their income. Our transparent compensation calculation is simple to understand, and projecting your income is easy by answering just a few questions.
Our compensation model is based on a standard 1/3—1/3—1/3 proposition where the rule-of-thumb says a solo attorney spends about 1/3 of their time on administration, 1/3 on business development, and 1/3 doing the work. We adapt this commonsense paradigm to a collaborative, team-based environment.
- Administrative overhead – the Firm retains 35% of each dollar that comes into the Firm for the expenses it covers on its attorneys’ behalf. The roster of benefits, perks, services, and expenses we cover is available HERE.
- Business development – the Firm pays out 32% of each dollar to the attorney(s) who develop the business. The attorney originating the client gets 17% (O-credit) of each dollar the client spends with the Firm and the attorney who supervises (i.e., is responsible for) a particular matter gets 15% (R-Credit) of each dollar the client pays on the specific matter.
- Performing the work – the remaining 33% goes to the working attorney (partner-level, managing attorney, or associate) based on their hourly rate.
So, for example, an attorney who brings in a client (17% O-Credit), supervises the matter (15% R-Credit), and works the hour (33% W-Credit), will carry home 65% of the payment. If the attorney just originates the client, gives matter responsibility and the work to someone else, then the attorney will collect 17% of the total collected. If an attorney supervises work for a client originated by another attorney, the attorney will get 15% of the amount collected on the matter (no matter who does the work), plus 33% of the attorney’s billable rate for the hours the attorney works. If the attorney simply does work for a client originated by another lawyer and on a project for which another attorney is responsible, the working attorney would receive 33% of the working attorney’s hourly rate. All compensation is paid with the payroll in the month following the month in which the payment is collected.
There are several permutations, and percentages can be split differently as agreed upon by the attorneys involved. Allocations and percentages and roles are all arranged at the initiation of a matter in our practice management system in order to remain transparent.
1 O-Credit is essentially institutional in nature. Once an attorney brings a client to the Firm, 17% of each dollar the client pays the Firm is allocated to the Originating Attorney’s compensation (unless the Originating Attorney designates otherwise).
2 R-Credit is matter-specific. As a client has matters requiring different skill sets, the Originating Attorney may designate another attorney to be “Responsible” for the matter. The R-Attorney is the supervisor on the file, and takes the lead monitoring the work, ensuring quality standards, delivering the work product, and reviewing the bills. The R-Attorney receives 15% of each dollar collected on the matter.
Project Your Income at Stanton Law
To estimate your Stanton Law compensation, utilize the following prompts. You can start with the metrics from your current Firm to see what your current business and workload would earn you at Stanton Law, then move on to create your preferred balance of business development and hourly work.
1. How much (in dollars) do your clients spend annually on legal services? In other words, what’s your book of business?
2. Of your total book entered in the first box, how much (in dollars) is work you supervise (i.e. for which you’re responsible)?
2. So by our calculations, that means with your book of business (Question 1), you’ll expect other lawyers to supervise the amount set forth in the box. Does this sound right?
3. What is your hourly rate?
4. How many hours do you bill per month?
Based on your responses, we estimate that at Stanton Law, you’d annually earn approximately*:
$ 99,999.00
*Please note, this is just an estimator, and actual income depends a lot on the clients and work you bring to the Firm…our attorneys routinely share projects and work, but our (and your) success is amplified by you bringing in new matters to the Firm. Also keep in mind as you’re tinkering with your hours-worked, we encourage our lawyers to lead balanced lives…while you’re welcomed to bill as many hours as our workload will provide, most of our lawyers bill about 15 to 35 hours in a typical week. And finally, be mindful that our model allows us to charge rates up to a 1/3 less than traditional law firms. You’ll be able to set your own rate – as high or as low as you’d like – but our typical Partner rates run from the low $400’s to the mid-$500’s per hour.