That sounds pretty reasonable. But is your experience more of an exception in your firm (or others), or is it something that they would allow most anyone to do provided they put it the quality work that you do?
I have had lots of crazy luck at my firm, but there are others like mine, and at worst u can move somewhere else where they will value u (depending on practice and market timing). u gotta think of yourself as a rookie looking to be a star on a sports team or something similar (except aging probably helps with experience for a longer period before drop off when u can no longer turn docs overnight). if u do good work and are willing to put in the time (sometimes at the expense of family etc), there will always be a market for u, and u just have to know that and confidently push for what u think your value is. At most non-lockstep firms there are at least a few big rainmakers who recognize when their associates/counsel make the client happy/get the client to give more work and praise. those guys usually have lots of sway in excess of their pure cut of profits and they can push those they feel they need to keep happy to get some of that gravy. To be clear, its not just quality work, its client service, doing everything to make the client's life easier and to make them (the inhouse peeps) look good to their "clients". that means helping on a nonbillable basis where needed, anticipating what they will need before they ask for it etc.
inhouse people in smaller places generally have much less leverage as a cost center, unless/until they push themselves into a stronger business role (esp with corporate lawyers, learning to negotiate all terms of a deal and understanding economics etc, i.e. quitting from the more general inhouse lawyer job) and become a senior exec, which sometimes can be hard and is a much harder "competition" when there is only 1-2 spots. In bigger places, there is a significant fear of being the first cost center and being kicked out right when u join (LIFO) bc the company needs to cut costs, which i saw with a couple friends.