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The Am Law 100: ‘Flexible’ Compensation Systems Lead to Strong Performance

By Andrew Maloney
April 30, 2025

Big Law firms have stepped into a whole different world of partner compensation in the last year, by stretching their spreads, increasing bonus pools, moving to “black box” systems, adding nonequity tiers, and implementing “super” points, among other changes.

The changes have allowed firms to stretch out their partner pay ratios and increase the top rung of the compensation ladder. At some firms, it can now reach $30 million to $40 million.

So how did the compensation changes affect their overall performance? When you drill down to it, the name of the game is flexibility, industry analysts and firm leaders say. The firms that increased their flexibility in compensation systems recruited and retained the talent that continued to turn in the strongest performances.

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