Job Responsibilities
Service our clients' legal needs, including counseling and
advising clients on various matters, attending hearings and
drafting documents.
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Job Requirements
Undergraduate and Law degree required.
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Uppers
Working with clients to achieve their business goals and objectives and
providing quality service to meet their legal and business needs. I feel great
satisfaction in doing a great job and obtaining positive results for my clients.
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Downers
Having to respond to unreasonable and uncooperative persons on
the opposing side of litigation matters.
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Lifestyle
Long hours are required. Depending on your particular practice, some travel is
involved. Dress code at my law firm is business casual, unless you have a court
appearance or other engagement that requires formal business dress. Our firm
values diversity and works hard at having programs and initiatives to attact and
retain a diverse work force.
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Compensation
Base salary ranges depending on years of experience. In the
Texas market, base salaries have just been raised significantly
for first year lawyers (from $110,000 to $135,000), with
commensurate increases based on years of experience. Bonuses are
based primarily on billable hours (with partial credit for pro
bono work up to the billable hour threshold for bonus (i.e. 30
hours of pro bono work counts toward the 1950 billable hour
threshold for bonus eligibility) and then all count after that).
My firm has not yet responded to the increase in base salary,
with first year's still making $110,000 in Texas, and $10,000
increses per year after that. The bonus matrix at our firm is
not disclosed, unlike some other firms in Texas. We do not know
what our bonuses will be until the day before we get our bonus
checks.
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Advice to Jobseekers
I get a lot of satisfaction out of many aspects of my job as a
lawyer, while at the same time dealing with the frustrations that
any one experiences when working with others in an often
contentious environment. I encourage those who want the
opportunity to help others find solutions to business and legal
problems to look into a career in the law. If I had to do it all
over again, I would choose the same career path.
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