Posted: August 28th, 2016

What does the lawyer earn during the year after expenses?

A lawyer allocates overhead costs based on his hours working with different clients. The lawyer expects to have $200,000 in overhead during the year and expects to work on clients’ cases for 2,000 hours during the year. In addition, he wants to pay himself $50 per hour for working with clients. The lawyer, however, does not bill all of his clients based on covering overhead costs and his own salary. Some clients pay him on contingency fees. If the lawyer works with a client on a contingency fee basis, the lawyer receives half of any settlement for his client. During the year the lawyer works 1,200 hours that are billable to clients. The remaining hours are worked on a contingency basis. The lawyer wins $300,000 in settlements for his clients of which he receives half. The actual overhead was $210,000.
What does the lawyer earn during the year after expenses? Please explain.