Sweatshop. High turnover. Attorneys make $40/hr pre-tax. - Associate Wilson Elser Employee Review

1.0
Jan 31, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

"You must enter at least 5 words for Pros."

Cons

Be wary of positive reviews -- HR tells people to submit Glassdoor reviews. Awful place to work as an attorney. Workload is unmanageable. At the time I quit, every associate and paralegal was actively interviewing for other jobs. Every. Management demands weekends in the office (not even from home). Most attorneys in our office work 60+ hours a week (we are not even a top-10 market). No support from management, who have a sink-or-swim attitude. Negligible bonus. Pay is pitiful. Ultimately, my salary came out to $40/hour pre-tax. Equity track partnership is nearly impossible to attain; in our office, only the office managing partner was equity. Billable requirement higher than most large firms in town, yet pay is lower than most. And management will email blast the firm about hours multiple times a week. But don't worry about meeting the billable minimum, because you have so much work that you must finish or you will malpractice; if you are not meeting your minimum, you probably have bigger problems given the massive caseload. Constantly putting out fires. Firm tracks attorney PTO. No 401k. Hardly any support staff as firm tries to keep costs low. Also, the technology sucks. Windows 2007 -- 10 years old.

Explore other reviews about Wilson Elser

5.0
Jul 4, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good coworkers and supervisors. Billable work environments tend to be the same in terms of monotony, so it helps to have a good team.

Cons

Billable hours aren't the most fun thing in the world. Huge caseload.

3.0
Jul 14, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Comp transparency, quarterly bonuses, CLE access, training videos, many practice areas

Cons

High billables, several teams without associate oversight, high volume, medical premium is employee responsibility

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All