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Navigating the Partner Compensation Equation

ONLINE // DEC 6 // 2024

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An exploration of the changing face of partner compensation and how law firms are adapting incentives to better weather market disruption and economic uncertainty.

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OVERVIEW

Is your partner compensation plan good for the partner or good for the partnership?

To know whether it’s good for both (or worse, good for neither!), you should be able to answer these fundamental questions:


  • How does your compensation plan further (or hinder) the firm’s strategy?
  • How well do your firm’s partners understand the link between their behaviors and the corresponding rewards or penalties?
  • How does your plan drive, not just reward, the desirable and profitable behaviors consistent with the long-term interests of the firm?
  • How well does the plan manage partner expectations and reduce perceptions of inequity?
  • How does your plan reward profitability, which is how partners are paid, vs. productivity, which is how partners spend their time?


Partner compensation plans that work well during good times tend to foster unrest in times of disruption or uncertainty – whether the disruption if caused by global, macroeconomic forces or smaller, firm-specific issues.

Busy partners lament the underperformance of less-busy partners.

Duration: 4 Hours

Style:  Online Virtual Workshop

Date: December 6th

Time: 10:00 AM US EST - 2:00PM US EST

Rainmakers lament carrying service partners. Highly sought-after service partners expect rainmakers to share credit. Mid-level partners on the rise resent subsidizing the declining productivity of senior partners. Senior partners hold tightly to origination credits, crowding out future stars and laterals… the list goes on.


Firm leaders face constant uncertainty over which factions of the firm to appease, knowing that choosing poorly can lead to partner defections or calls for governance changes.

All partners expect to be rewarded well based on whatever contribution positions them in the best light.


However, not every contribution has equal economic value. Some valuable contributions aren’t easily measured, while some easily measured contributions don’t have much value. In some firms, partners refuse to measure certain contributions to avoid the potential toxicity of an eat-what-you-kill culture. Yet, in some firms where performance metrics are commonplace, a culture of collaboration and sharing thrives.


This highly interactive workshop – facilitated by Tim Corcoran, Principal, Corcoran Consulting Group, LLC – is designed for compensation and management committees addressing some of the most pressing compensation-related challenges facing law firm leaders today.


The discussion will address both the economics and the psychology of compensation, delving into what works in certain cultures, and why, and what alternatives might be better for other cultures, and why.


The discussion of challenges, solutions, and roadmaps will be informed by the experience of other firm leaders in attendance.


REGISTER

Early Bird Registration

Confirm your place at this program by October 30th and save $100 on your registration.

Use the discount code NCE100 when placing your order.


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Chatham House Rules:

The format of this workshop is unique in that participants are encouraged to candidly converse, ask questions, share stories, and address challenges in an off-the-record, peer-to-peer environment. Neither the identity nor the affiliation of the workshop participants will be revealed, unless they choose to do so. If any portion is recorded, it will not be distributed without participant consent.


The primary objective is to provide a platform for both guided and free-form discussion among peers to brainstorm ideas and possible solutions to specific issues and challenges – facilitated by Tim Corcoran (Principal, Corcoran Consulting Group, LLC) – a preeminent expert on law firm partner compensation who has advised law firm leaders all over the world.


We invite entire compensation committees and/or management teams responsible for awarding partner compensation, including both lawyers and finance professionals, to attend as a group.


Neither teams nor individuals will be asked to reveal confidential information during group discussion or anonymized case studies.

FACilitator

Tim Corcoran

Principal

Corcoran Consulting Group, LLC

BIO

Tim Corcoran is a former CEO who now guides law firm and law department leaders through the profitable disruption of outdated business models.


Tim is a Trustee and Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management, former President of the Legal Marketing Association and a member of its Hall of Fame, an American Lawyer Research Fellow, a Teaching Fellow in the Master in Legal Business program at the Australian College of Law, a frequent presenter at lawyer retreats and legal conferences, and a writer whose articles are published regularly in leading publications.

AGENDA

Curriculum

Participants will have the opportunity to respond to a pre-workshop survey to prioritize the topics they’d like to cover. The order and depth of will be covered from among the following modules is driven primarily by the participants:

Module 1

Compensation Plan Structure, Metrics, Tools, and Processes:


  • What are the most common models for partner compensation? What works well in some circumstances may not work at all in others. We’ll address the inherent conflicts, inefficiencies, and disincentives built into present-day compensation
    plans – and what some firms are doing to modernize compensation criteria, processes, and tools.
  • How does your firm quantify the value of intangible contributions? How do you distinguish between contributions that should be expected of all partners and critically important contributions that need to be done, and those who do them need to be rewarded?
  • Whether you have an objective plan driven by published metrics or a subjective plan requiring a committee to deliberate behind closed doors, most firms put forth a significant amount of effort before reaching final compensation decisions. What are some best practices for managing the process to achieve the right outcome without investing or delegating months of unnecessary effort?

Module 2

Managing Performance:


  • Many firms address partner performance only once per year through a compensation decision. There’s minimal explanation because “partners should know what’s expected of them.” How are some law firm leaders using the compensation process to drive more desirable behaviors rather than just rewarding (or withholding rewards) after the fact?
  • To address under-performance, there first needs to be a common understanding of what constitutes good performance. Leaders can better manage expectations by being clear about which behaviors and contributions earn rewards and in what proportion. To do this well in a culture that values autonomy, it’s important to have a clear vision and plan of execution.
  • The partners’ shared values should dictate which behaviors and contributions are acceptable and rewarded. Yet, too often, cultures that cherish respect, collaboration, and good citizenship allow lone wolves or assholes to sit untouchable atop the compensation ladder. How have other firms developed the financial basis for making a change? Or how do you accept that this is actually who we are?

Module 3

Linking Compensation to Strategy:


  • Most firms don’t have an articulated strategy, but there are usually pretty clear strategic priorities. Whether you wish to grow rapidly or grow deliberately, promote from within or recruit laterals, acquire or be acquired, cross-sell or operate as siloes, your compensation plan will either help or hinder the effort. How can you better understand what your plan supports?
  • Many law firms claim to want more cross-selling, yet few incentivize this explicitly. More often, hunting in packs, sharing credit, and even delegating work reduces a partner’s income, thereby creating a strong disincentive to collaborate. What are some approaches successfully adopted by firms to foster collaboration and cross-selling?
  • In many law firms, the proportion of revenue or profit managed by partners nearing retirement is so large as to constitute an existential threat to the firm if handled poorly. And yet, poorly handled succession planning is the default approach for many. How are firms adjusting incentives, whether on a systemic or a one-off basis, to better reward the successful retention of key client relationships through a generational change?

The topics chosen for discussion will involve a combination of interactive lecture, case studies, and group exercises. We will rely on real but anonymized compensation scenarios in a wide-open format that encourages interaction and open dialog.


We’ve had great success in prior sessions with participants sharing what has worked well for them, and why, on a variety of the above topics. We’ve also learned some of the tough lessons and challenges others have faced and why something didn’t work. No one is required to share or contribute. But a robust but confidential exchange of ideas from peers is one of the most effective ways to find a path to success.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

Effectively link your firm's compensation plan with a broader roadmap for success within the partnership or on the path to partnership.

Learn how to address inherent conflicts, inefficiencies and disincentives built into present day comp plans and what some firms are doing to modernize criteria, processes and tools.

Understand various means to adaptation in times of economic uncertainty – more closely mapping partner compensation to performance.

Identify realistic ways to positioning compensation as a driver of change as it relates to culture and performance.

How transparent is your comp plan and how well do the partners understand the link between their behaviors and the corresponding rewards or penalties?

Explore the cultural implications of your firm's comp plan. How well does it manage partner expectations and reduce perceptions of inequity?

Gain a deeper understanding of how your firm's current compensation plan aligns with and supports your firm's overall strategy.

Consider how your firm's comp plan impacts (supports or hinders) succession planning.

Learn how compensation can be used to drive desirable and profitable behaviors consistent with the long-term interests of the firm.

Discuss and evaluate methods for quantifying the value of intangible contributions.

Identify gaps between current plans and modern practices in a variety of contexts.

Learn techniques for how other firms reward profitability, split origination credit, and/or pay firm management.

REGISTRATION

Super Early Bird Registration

Confirm your place at this program by October 30th

and save $100 on your registration.


$595

($495 Through October 30th)


Use the code NCE100 when placing your order.

CONFIRM YOUR PLACE

Team rates are available on request

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