Of Counsel Data Forum

[Anonymous User]

Looking for info on Of Counsel roles. My understanding is that there’s a wide discrepancy across firms as to whether these roles are offered for those who don’t make partner/under what circumstances; whether they can lead to partner or not; whether you get to work less hours; what you get paid and whether it’s better than the most senior associates; whether you need to do any bizdev (tho my sense is that it’s usually a no); when if at all the firm indicates that you are on this track as opposed to of Counsel track; etc.
Any of Counsel out there (or analogous positions) -would like to hearyoyr experiences!

[Anonymous User]

At my V50 firm, of counsel fall into two categories:

(1) Partner potential but need to sit at of counsel for a couple of years (a) until a business needs can justify a spot for them in partnership or (b) they need to show that they can further improve on a couple areas before being promoted

(2) No real partnership prospects, but the firm values (a) your subject matter expertise or (b) your relationship with certain clients. Your relationships are too few to justify you making partner or being a real flight risk but plentiful and strong enough that the firm thinks it will help retain the clients.

[Anonymous User]

At my old firm “of counsel” meant you weren’t entitled to any regular pay. Basically the “of counsel” attorneys would be paid once a quarter (my firm billed clients once a quarter) on a percentage of the work you billed. I don’t think the of counsel attorneys got any firm benefits (not that those are worth much in the law firm world). There was a different category know as just “counsel.” The “counsel” attorneys were similar to what is described above: they were more senior than associates or had more specialized knowledge, but weren’t quite at the partner level yet. I think you’ll find these counsel spots may be substantially different between firms.

[Anonymous User]

At my former firm, people with the title "of counsel" included a lot of different categories, including all three listed by prior PP's.

It also, I believe, included a fourth category of experienced attorneys who had enough business to be partners if they wanted, but who wanted to maintain a looser association with the firm than partnership.

[Anonymous User]

At my V50 firm, of counsel fall into two categories:

(1) Partner potential but need to sit at of counsel for a couple of years (a) until a business needs can justify a spot for them in partnership or (b) they need to show that they can further improve on a couple areas before being promoted

(2) No real partnership prospects, but the firm values (a) your subject matter expertise or (b) your relationship with certain clients. Your relationships are too few to justify you making partner or being a real flight risk but plentiful and strong enough that the firm thinks it will help retain the clients.

OP who posted this. I misread the title/post. These comments are true for "counsel" at my firm. "Of counsel" are former partners who have been moved out of their equity positions as they transition into retirement. From what I understand, while they are of counsel, they still earn credit towards the partner pension plan and likely get paid a very healthy sum.

[Wubbles]

Of Counsel at my firm is basically just somewhere between senior associate and partner, often for experts in a niche practice who enjoy flexibility in when they work. Usually paid like 8th years, but those using the position to cut back on hours and raise kids or whatever I believe are paid essentially for the portion of the minimum hours that they actually bill

[Anonymous User]

I made counsel at my V50 firm this year. We don't have non-equity partner here so it's basically treated as equivalent to that position at other firms. The poster who said it can either be a springboard to partner or the final stop for a lot of attorneys is exactly right. At my firm, they are starting to make less partners after eight years and instead making more people take a pit stop at counsel for a year or two. In my case, I'm in a niche practice group that couldn't justify making another partner at this point in time. I'm told that odds are good that I'll make partner in the next few years but I'm not holding my breath.

In terms of comp, I make $375,000 as base salary and I earn a $175,000 bonus at the end of the year as long as I bring in roughly $1.6 million of collections. Being in a niche practice group with a high billing rate, that's only around 1750 hours for me. Firm also gives me a $10,000 401(k) contribution every year. So all in comp is around $560k. I'm told first year partners make $700k at my firm.

[papermateflair]

At my V50 firm, of counsel fall into two categories:

(1) Partner potential but need to sit at of counsel for a couple of years (a) until a business needs can justify a spot for them in partnership or (b) they need to show that they can further improve on a couple areas before being promoted

(2) No real partnership prospects, but the firm values (a) your subject matter expertise or (b) your relationship with certain clients. Your relationships are too few to justify you making partner or being a real flight risk but plentiful and strong enough that the firm thinks it will help retain the clients.

OP who posted this. I misread the title/post. These comments are true for "counsel" at my firm. "Of counsel" are former partners who have been moved out of their equity positions as they transition into retirement. From what I understand, while they are of counsel, they still earn credit towards the partner pension plan and likely get paid a very healthy sum.

Both of the firms I've been at have a similar approach for Counsel - and "Of Counsel" was for partners transitioning to retirement (and rarely, some individuals who had become "Of Counsel" before "Counsel" was invented). Counsel has been a sort of mandatory stopping point for folks moving from senior associate to partner, where they go sit for 1-5 years while they get the book of business needed to become partner (or wait for someone to retire...). It's also a role given to laterals who come in from the government or elsewhere who the group can't quite justify making partner but who are too senior to be associates.

My impression is that Of Counsel roles are varied and depend a lot on what the individual negotiated/is expected to do for the group. But for Counsel, at my firm they're expected to do all the business development etc. that everyone else does, although they do have a slightly lower billable hours expectation (because they're supposed to theoretically be developing business so they can become partners).

[Anonymous User]

At KE (and I'd imagine other firms with tiered partnership), of counsel is pretty rare. There are probably some exceptions, but its largely just a role for partners to ease their way into retirement (although some end up staying in the of counsel role for quite some time).