Government Disclosures Shed Light on Big Law Salaries
Law firm partnerships fiercely guard against disclosing what they pay their principals, points out Bloomberg Law. But partners must disclose compensation when opting for a government appointment.
“Top partners at major law firms can earn between $3 million to $10 million, according to compensation experts, while even career government lawyers with long service records rarely make more than $250,000,” writes reporter Elizabeth Olson.
As an example, the article reports that Dan M. Berkovitz, a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Door, listed $1.18 million in partnership income for 2017 and a few months of 2018. Berkovitz was recently appointed one of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s commissioners.
And Robert Khuzami created waves a few months ago when he disclosed $11.1 million in partnership income over about a year’s period as a partner in Kirkland & Ellis’s white-collar practice. He is a deputy attorney general in the Southern District of New York.