Law Firm Partners

A look at moves among attorneys, law firms, companies and other players in entertainment law.

A look at moves among attorneys, law firms, companies and other players in entertainment law.

In the decade ahead, the mechanism for offsetting the effects of external market forces on profitability will shift from changing partnership composition to transforming a partnership's behavioral norms, centering on how partners behave toward each other and help each other become the best possible version of their professional selves.

When the pandemic sent everyone home in March 2020, it was a seismic shift in work, but one that had a clear reasoning behind it, and, oddly, was remarkably uniform in execution for all involved. The return to the office is much more complicated, and it isn't just about logistics.

For some firms in the Great Recession, reduced revenues combined with the overwhelming pressure from multimillion-dollar pension liabilities — a holdover from the days when pensions were simply a promise firms made to retiring partners — were too much to bear. But with the Great Recession now a decade in the past and another recession brewing, has the industry learned from its mistakes?

Compensation systems are typically a strategic afterthought, seen as the means by which to allocate the spoils of a successful strategy. They're viewed as affecting the level of grousing among partners, but not a firm's performance. The data, however, indicates the reverse is true.

In general law firms have been slower to adopt pay for performance systems. What law firms need now, and this article describes, is an approach to partner compensation that closely links a partners pay to their ability to contribute to the achievement of the firm's strategic objectives.

Pay for performance is not a new concept in this country. The ideas and concepts underlying a graduated pay scale based on contribution and merit are deeply ingrained in our society. However, in general law firms have been slower to adopt pay for performance systems. What law firms need now, and this article describes, is an approach to partner compensation that closely links a partners pay to their ability to contribute to the achievement of the firm's strategic objectives.