Are we being paid enough?

Honest question—though I know it sounds insane.

Take a second year associate who bills out at $700/hour. They bill 2,000 hours in a year. Let’s say 100 of those hours are pro bono. So 1,900 billable hours. That’s $1.33m in revenue for the firm.

Suppose 90% of that billed revenue is collected and the firm has a profit margin of 50% (which includes salaries and may even be conservative based on public disclosures). So: $1.33m x 0.9 x 0.5.

That’s $599k of profit straight into the pockets of equity partners.

That second year associate made $265k (after bonus). That’s like 30% of the total profit earned by that associate’s time pre-salary ($599k + $265k).

Now, obviously, so much of an associate’s value comes from the partner(s)/counsel they are working under. This is true from both a business development and quality of work product lens. And equity partners are taking on financial risk through their ownership of the firm.

But why is 30/70 the right split here? It seems low.

Worse—after hitting the billable hour mark, firms increase bonuses by tiny amounts, often paying about minimum wage in increased bonuses for hours worked above the billable hour requirement.

This feels inequitable, no? Please help me understand what I am missing.