If your partner compensation system is no longer working for you, consider a complete overhaul and implement a values-based system that embraces shared partner values and desired firm culture, to replace it. When law firms are formed with only a few equity partners, many take the easy path of dividing the profits equally among the partners. In a new, three equity partner law firm, that means all three partners own 33 1/3% of the firm and receive 33 1/3 % of the profits, regardless of their individual contribution to the firm.
While the “share equally system” may work for a while, eventually the firm may outgrow it as individual contributions develop, such as in the case of this scenario:
