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Corporate Boutiques


DonCorleone

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DonCorleone
  • Law Student

I've seen a lot on forums about big law and mid size firms, but not a lot on corporate boutiques. I was wondering if anybody could offer some insight on what these firms are like, what the comp is, etc. I'd assume the hierarchal dynamic is a lot different from big law/mid size firms simply due to the fact that there are less people. Some students I have talked to liked this dynamic, while others say that the training is better at larger firms, since there are more people and resources. 

In terms of comp, I've been told that boutiques are basically the wild west and the pay varies vastly. I'm not sure how accurate the numbers are on ZSA legal recruit for corporate boutiques in Toronto, but I'd guess that base pay starts somewhere between 70-85k? Would that be accurate? Bonuses seem to vary by firm as well. 

As an anecdote, I spoke to a lawyer who said that boutiques will often take PIK (payment in kind) for services, which would include in the money options and warrants, shares, etc. I guess boutiques have a bit more leniency in this regard since there is no compliance department bearing down on them.  But being issued ITM warrants at 0.02 when the venture company you did work for has shares trading at 0.05 (I've seen this happen with TSXV mining companies) seems like it could be lucrative. 

Anyways, this is all just anecdotal stuff I've heard. I'd love to hear if anybody has any further insight to offer. 

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  • Lawyer

Corporate boutiques can vary from the likes of Wildeboer Dellelce which pays the usual "Bay St." salary, to a very small shop that mostly does incorporations of small businesses and start-ups - I presume the salaries there are similar to salaries of other small law firms that do non-corporate work (i.e. either eat what you kill, or similar to ZSA's small firm estimates). The reason corporate boutiques are not often talked about is because most mid sized firms have extensive corporate practices, so there aren't too many boutiques that just do "corporate law". Often they are the result of a Bay St. lawyer choosing to branch off from big law/mid size firms.

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