Top Law Schools

I want to make non-equity partner and I am willing to kill myself for 6-8 years to do it. then I'll have kids, take the brass ring and do something else.

What firms should I look at?

Currently at a vault 20ish in DC but want to lateral. I've heard Kirkland is a good option: big percentage of the associate class makes non-equity partner at year 6.

Why are you so desperate to make non-equity partner? It has all the drawbacks of being a partner without most of the benefits.

Your taxes suck. You have to pay for your own healthcare. You don't make equity-partner $$ so you get screwed without getting the benefits to go with it.

Assuming salary is roughly equivalent definitely better to be a senior associate than a non-equity partner.

Strange end-goal... o.O

Yeah, this is a strange goal, but one obvious answer is KE.

Thanks, yeah I think it's strange too but I got my reasons.

Anonymous User wrote:Thanks, yeah I think it's strange too but I got my reasons.

You're anon, why not post those reasons? If only for curiosity's sake, I am extremely interested why someone would specifically be looking to make non-equity partner.

deepseapartners wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Thanks, yeah I think it's strange too but I got my reasons.

You're anon, why not post those reasons? If only for curiosity's sake, I am extremely interested why someone would specifically be looking to make non-equity partner.

Maybe he made a bet with a LS classmate as to who would make "partner" first. Or maybe it's for lateralling/in-house purposes?

deepseapartners wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Thanks, yeah I think it's strange too but I got my reasons.

You're anon, why not post those reasons? If only for curiosity's sake, I am extremely interested why someone would specifically be looking to make non-equity partner.

There's more than one reason. trade you 1 reason per firm.

Lol at non-equity partner being a "brass ring." I legit cannot conceive of any reason that one would want to "kill themselves" for 6-8 year to get the title and then just leave.

But, yes, KE is obviously the shining star of non-equity partners, although making it there is not as automatic as people seem to think.

If you just want the title, though, and want it as easy as possible, isn't the solution a somewhat lower-ranked firm? Something like a Venable, mcguirewoods, Arent Fox? Not saying it's easy at those places because it's not, but theoretically will be easier than a V10.

Let me take a wild guess... cuz "partner" oozes with prestige and sounds cool.

fxb3 wrote:Lol at non-equity partner being a "brass ring." I legit cannot conceive of any reason that one would want to "kill themselves" for 6-8 year to get the title and then just leave.

But, yes, KE is obviously the shining star of non-equity partners, although making it there is not as automatic as people seem to think.

If you just want the title, though, and want it as easy as possible, isn't the solution a somewhat lower-ranked firm? Something like a Venable, McGuireWoods, Arent Fox? Not saying it's easy at those places because it's not, but theoretically will be easier than a V10.

I'm not so sure about that. Making partner at a lot of those places is dependent on your ability to generate business, which is largely a different skillset. Also, some places are more merit based than others. I'm at vault 20, and I can tell you that I have a better shot at partner here than I would at a random v100.

Anonymous User wrote:Why are you so desperate to make non-equity partner? It has all the drawbacks of being a partner without most of the benefits.

Your taxes suck. You have to pay for your own healthcare. You don't make equity-partner $$ so you get screwed without getting the benefits to go with it.

Assuming salary is roughly equivalent definitely better to be a senior associate than a non-equity partner.

Is this accurate? I thought at places like K&E non-equity "partners" where essentially just senior associates/counsel with a fancier title drawing a normal salary/benefits/etc.

Anonymous User wrote:

fxb3 wrote:Lol at non-equity partner being a "brass ring." I legit cannot conceive of any reason that one would want to "kill themselves" for 6-8 year to get the title and then just leave.

But, yes, KE is obviously the shining star of non-equity partners, although making it there is not as automatic as people seem to think.

If you just want the title, though, and want it as easy as possible, isn't the solution a somewhat lower-ranked firm? Something like a Venable, McGuireWoods, Arent Fox? Not saying it's easy at those places because it's not, but theoretically will be easier than a V10.

I'm not so sure about that. Making partner at a lot of those places is dependent on your ability to generate business, which is largely a different skillset. Also, some places are more merit based than others. I'm at vault 20, and I can tell you that I have a better shot at partner here than I would at a random v100.

Slightly different skillset sure, but I don't think it's more difficult. (And again, I'm not saying it's easy.) If you want to "kill yourself" to become a partner, one of they ways you could kill yourself is by working on developing business.

And it's not like "could this person generate business?" isn't also the primary question for partnership promotions at KE or any V20. But I'll grant you that some of the lower ranked V100 firms may want to see more demonstrable business development from senior associates, if only because at those firms it's actually possible for senior associates to generate business in a way that just isn't realistic at a V20.