In Part One, I explained that when I was a young buck, becoming a partner was the ultimate goal of every young lawyer. I suggested that this type of thinking is, for good reason, falling out of favour.
There are both good and bad things about being a partner in a law firm, and today’s young lawyers would be well advised to understand them all before accepting a partnership invitation.
Just to be clear, in this Part Two, I will be speaking about full equity partnerships, instead of all those other things that deviously masquerade as partnership, which I will address in a subsequent article.
Of course, leading the pack of advantages is more money.
In theory, the partners get to split the profits generated by the associates and non-equity partners. Of course, this assumes that the associates are generating profits beyond their salary and overheads, which they will be doing in a well- run firm if everyone is busy.
However, young lawyers who seek to become partners have to realize that all partners are not in fact created equal, and it is the partners who have the most client origination credits and billings who will be taking home most of the money. The calculation that a young partner must make is whether, with sufficient billings and clients, they can do just as well (or better) without becoming a partner, especially if they practice in a lower overhead setting than most big law or medium law firms would have.
The next big advantage is prestige.
The profession has successfully sold the idea to clients that partners are smarter than lawyers who are not partners, a questionable assertion in some cases. However, it is often the case that a lawyer will find it easier to market themselves if they can call themselves a ‘partner.’ Since the real secret to success in the legal profession is having control of a client base, it may make sense for some of the lawyers to choose partnership as a way of enhancing their ability to generate clients. Of course, there are other ways to generate a client base as well.
If the prestige is not going to help you develop a client base, then I would suggest that you get over your ego and make your decision based on more important business considerations.
Running a distant third in the reasons to become a partner is the ability to exert control over the direction of the firm. In large firms this is pretty much a myth, since rank-and-file partners have very little control. In smaller firms there is some reality to it.
So, in summary, the theoretical reasons to become a partner are money, prestige, and control. Some would add job security, although in reality if you have a client base you have job security, whether you are a partner or not.
In Part Three I will talk about the reasons not to become a partner. Stay tuned.
A version of this article was originally published by Law360 Canada, part of LexisNexis Canada Inc.