and some 4th-5th year associate can do what you do for thousands cheaper. It gets hard to stay busy. And if you can’t stay busy at a big law firm, you’re not sticking around. If there’s a hiccup in dealflow, the first ones to get whacked are the of counsels and nonequities.

I think it’d be hard to turn down a partner-track associate position at a national firm, but if I’m living in Utah and I want to stay in Utah and I’m thinking about where to focus my efforts, I’d rather be an equity partner at a Utah firm with a book full of Utah-based clients than the back office guy for a partner in SF doing work for SF clients.