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Managing Partner Performance

By Derek Schutz
December 17, 2009

Now that 2009 has come to an end, law firms are breathing a sigh of relief and looking forward with hopes of a better year to come. As with any year-end, it is also time to dole out partner compensation, and many firms are hoping they were able to stem the lack of demand for legal services with cost-cutting measures to keep their profits per partner above an acceptable threshold. One interesting observation is that although many firms evaluated their employees and their performance relative to saving the bottom line, an in-depth view of partner performance was by and large ignored.

This is not to say that firms are unaware of the effects of more partners vying for their slice of the proverbial “profit” pie. Many firms actually took steps to make changes within their partner ranks, including asking individuals to leave or cutting their compensation to levels more in line with what management felt they brought to the firm. This activity, however, was not the norm; either through lack of motivation, historical precedence or an inability due to bylaws, a large share of firms ignored the impact that underperforming partners have on the health and welfare of their firms.

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