First, I’m posting here because this feels like the closest (and most active) sub to analyzing this question, even though it’s technically about a boutique firm job. Apologies if it needs to be removed. This is also my burner account because a partner knows my regular Reddit account (lol).
I work in a niche subspecialty at a boutique firm and have been getting lots of recruiter emails and calls lately. I haven’t been super interested in most of the listings and kinda wanted to stay at my boutique firm for a little while getting great experience (but lower pay), but one opportunity caught my eye. There aren’t many boutique firms that do exactly what we do, but one of them had a recruiter contact me about a job opportunity doing exactly what I do know but with a 1200 billable hour requirement at a base salary that is proportional to market rate. Essentially I’d get paid what I’m paid now or slightly better but for 2/3 the required hours (I’m at 1800 now) AND the bonus opportunities are insane to me: full Cravath scale pay up to 2000 hours if I want but no pressure to go beyond 1200. Basically flexible to do anything in between.
I guess I’m wondering what I should ask the recruiter on an upcoming call and whether this is a too-good-to-be-true scenario. I’ve just never heard of a firm with a 1200 billables requirement. Any thoughts?