Young/New Partner Compensation Forum

[Anonymous User]

Assume primary market vault firm. So you go from 280/300k salary as an 8th-10th year associate to what? I've seen "of counsel/special counsel" types negotiate case-by-case legal contracts that are 50k above their last year of associate pay. What about new partners? I just don't see many 35-37 year olds bringing in enough business to make much more than of counsel types. In a lot of ways, they seem to be more like service partners. Anyone have any insights or anecdotes on this?

[thesealocust]

There's some info in the Dewey bankruptcy info about partner comp, but it's a big black box. It's especially weird for new partners because generally you have to buy into the partnership (like buying a stake in any other business), which is often done partially via financing from the firm. From there it's either a black box objectively, or at least a black box to people who aren't partners on the management committee of that firm

I think one way to think about it is a salary which caps around 300K to 400K, and then partnership draws / profits distributions which will vary by year, seniority, billables, origination, etc. Not really sure though.

[Old Gregg]

Close to your senior associate pay after capital contribution.

[Anonymous User]

Great point on the buy-ins. You see these PPP numbers and you wonder how many people at these firms are really making 1MM+. From a financial perspective, is there a real difference between a non-equity partner and "of counsel" with a negotiated contract?

[thesealocust]

Great point on the buy-ins. You see these PPP numbers and you wonder how many people at these firms are really making 1MM+. From a financial perspective, is there a real difference between a non-equity partner and "of counsel" with a negotiated contract?

I mean, it depends, but there are really only two classes of firm lawyers: the business owners - equity partners - and everyone else. "Everyone else" includes people of various seniority with various prospects for advancement, but there's no reason to expect the titles to make a huge difference.

The PPP numbers are total horseshit by the way. Law firms are private businesses with nearly no disclosure requirements. Why on earth would accurate, public financial information exist for all of them? It's smoke and mirrors and half-truths.

[Old Gregg]

The PPP numbers are total horseshit by the way. Law firms are private businesses with nearly no disclosure requirements. Why on earth would accurate, public financial information exist for all of them? It's smoke and mirrors and half-truths.

Yes, though to be fair, a firm's record of lateral partner recruitment is pretty indicative of the accuracy of those numbers. But yes, you have to evaluate on a firm-to-firm basis.

[anon168]

Partner compensation -- be it young/new or old/veteran -- is impossible to quantify and generalize in any meaningful way.

Very few, if any, firms have lock-step comp for non-equity partners. Equity partners are a totally different category, and will vary depending on practice area, business development and credit, and usu. some sort of nebulous factor like "firm awareness" and "overall contribution". Add on top of that, different firms place different weight on each of those factors.

As to young or new equity (or partial equity) partners specifically, if you're are just talking typical V20 biglaw, it's generally going to be in the range of what you made before you were a partners minus about 10%. So, to make the math easy, if you were making 300k as a senior associate/of counsel/income partner before being voted into partnership, then your take-home salary net of any mandatory firm contributions will be in the range of 270-280. But again, these aren't hard and fast rules. There are none of those when it comes to partner comp.

[Anonymous User]

The only thing that is certain is that you'll be pissed that some asshole somewhere in the firm is doing dog shit and makings hundreds of thousands more than you.