Job Title: Associate Attorney (Trusts & Estates)
Location: Bethesda, MD
Salary/Payrate: $150K-$200K annually and AWESOME benefits!!!
Work Environment: Hybrid (4 days onsite / 1 days WFH after 3-month ramp up period)
Term: Permanent / Fulltime
Bachelor’s degree required: Juris Doctor
Referral Fee:AMS will pay $500 should the person you refer gets hired
Job Description:
Associate Attorney
- 5+ years of Trusts & Estates experience required
- Estate planning drafting experience required
- Estate & trust administration experience required
- Probate experience strongly preferred
- LLM in Taxation is a plus but not required
- Mid-level complexity work with opportunity to be trained into more sophisticated HNW planning
- Looking for someone who can contribute immediately with minimal ramp-up
Partner
- Significant Trusts & Estates experience
- Advanced estate planning
- Estate & trust administration
- High-net-worth client experience preferred
- LLM preferred
- Portable book preferred but not required
- Leadership and supervision experience expected
Ideal Associate
- 5+ years of estate planning experience (hard requirement)
- Comfortable drafting wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and estate planning documents independently
- Estate and trust administration experience
- Probate litigation or probate administration is a significant plus
- Strong personality fit with a collaborative, intellectually curious team
- Interested in long-term growth and partnership
- Doesn't need a book of business
Ideal Partner
- Significant estate planning and administration background
- Comfortable supervising attorneys and staff
- High-net-worth planning experience preferred
- Existing book is helpful but not mandatory
- Entrepreneurial but collaborative
Compensation
Associate
- Approximately $150K for candidates around 5 years of experience
- Up to approximately $200K for candidates closer to 10 years
- Some flexibility depending on experience
- Structured quarterly billable bonus
- Discretionary year-end bonus
- Origination bonus program
Billables
- Associates: 1,650
- Paralegals: 1,550
- Firm noted that very few attorneys actually hit 1,650
- Quarterly bonuses tied to billables
Schedule / Office
- Primarily in-office
- Staff: 4 days/week in office
- Attorneys: 7 out of every 10 working days in office
- Remote flexibility available after approximately 90 days
- Looking for attorneys who enjoy collaborating in person
Culture
The biggest hiring factor is personality.
The firm specifically wants attorneys who:
- Enjoy estate planning
- Like discussing complex legal issues
- Want to learn
- Want to mentor and be mentored
- Prefer working on a team rather than operating independently
- Are looking for a long-term home rather than a stepping stone
Practice
Primary work consists of:
- Estate Planning
- Estate Administration
- Probate
- Trust Administration
- Mid- to High-Net-Worth planning
- Complex drafting
- Family wealth planning
Partnership Track
- Clear path to Non-Equity Partner
- Associates work with all partners rather than being assigned to one attorney
- Significant mentorship
- Opportunity for long-term advancement
- Looking for attorneys interested in eventually becoming firm leaders
Benefits
- 401(k) participation beginning Day 1
- Profit sharing (must remain employed through year-end; 20% vested initially)
- Medical insurance (Kaiser or United Healthcare)
- Firm covers employee medical premium; dependents at employee expense
- Dental insurance (Aetna)
- Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
- Life Insurance
- Long-Term Disability (after 6 months)
- Professional Development Assistance
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
- Paid parental leave:
- 6 weeks paid
- Additional 6 weeks unpaid
- Applies to birth or adoption (policy currently being updated)
- PTO is flexible as long as attorneys remain current on their work and billable expectations
- Parking:
- ~$140/month unreserved
- ~$190/month reserved
- Employee expense