New Firm Resolves 'Sunday Stomach'
Kevin Broyles once wanted to be a partner at a big-name law firm. But today he counts himself lucky to be able to leave his law office in time to coach Pee Wee football at 6:30 p.m.
“It’s a matter of getting your priorities in order,” Broyles, 36, tells the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I rarely have to work past 5 or 6 o’clock.”
The Harvard Law School graduate is one of a number of Generation X attorneys who willingly work fewer hours—and probably earn considerably less than they could make at a major law firm—in exchange for more time. Plus, that avoids the “Sunday stomach” that often preceded another week of big-firm work, Broyle says.
Meanwhile, although his hourly rate is lower at FSB Corporate Counsel, a firm he helped form, so is overhead. Hence, he takes home a higher percentage of his billings, which helps to balance out the pay differential.
Kimberly Verska, 38, is another FSB lawyer who finds the trade-off worthwhile. A former associate at Alston & Bird, where she worked part-time after the birth of her two children, she now bills fewer hours and has more time to spend with her family.
“Fifty to 60 hours a month,” she says, “allows me to replace my former salary.”
