TO THE EDITOR:
Once again, The Daily Tar Heel has misstated how businesses operate: This time, billable hours.
If UNC pays $990 per hour to Kenneth Wainstein, and between $450 and $775 an hour for members of his team, they themselves are not making that full amount. Mr. Wainstein is a partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, so when UNC pays “him,” they are actually paying the firm for his services.
The firm bills out by the hour for the members of his team, and that company treats it as revenue, from which it pays its associates and partners. Any profit left over after paying for overhead is then shared through the partners, of which I suspect Mr. Wainstein receives some portion.
And the annual total is likely more than many students live off of in the time it takes them to complete their course of study, growing tuition included. But it is not the same $990 per hour reported here.
But as reported in the last story on the subject, The Daily Tar Heel might as well claim that the grocery clerk made about $100 when I checked out at his register last week. Revenue is paid to the company, not the individual.
Scott Neidich
Doctoral student,
School of public health
