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Building a Comp Plan That Works

By Joe Danowsky
August 12, 2003

On a recent visit to Altman Weil management consultants in Newtown Square, PA, I met with James D. Cotterman, a longtime contributor to (and just-retiring Editorial Board member of) this newsletter. Jim was the lead author and editor of both the 2nd and 3rd editions of the ABA-published book Compensation Plans for Law Firms. Regrettably I can't share with you Altman Weil's excellent hazelnut coffee, but I hope you'll enjoy the following condensed excerpts from our conversation about Jim's book. With Jim's concurrence, I've also prettied up my sketched notes on some compensation system and profitability interrelationships explained in the book; these flow diagrams appear on pages 2 and 5.

Joining the conversation was William F. Brennan, our newest Editorial Board member. A CPA and Certified Management Accountant (CMA), Bill is a past Vice Chair of Finance of the Law Practice Management Section of the American Bar Association and a past president of the Philadelphia chapter of the Association of Legal Administrators. His 20-plus years of experience with the legal profession began at Pricewaterhouse and have included administrative director and CFO positions at two AmLaw 200 law firms. Now a consultant at Altman Weil, Bill provides consulting services to law firms on merger integration, financial management and cost reduction.

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