Apr 04, 2018
Associate Attorney Motivation
Question:
Our firm is a fourteen attorney firm in Chicago. There are nine partners and five associate attorneys in the firm. Our practice is limited to insurance defense. I am one of the founders and senior partners in the firm and have been practicing for 35 years. We are having problems getting our associates to produce at the levels that we need for the firm to be profitable. We have a 1800 annual billable hour requirement and several of our associates aren’t even close. We have a bonus system that pays associates a bonus based upon billable hours exceeding 1800 billable hours. What are we doing wrong?
Response:
It often takes more than setting up a bonus system and then leaving it on autopilot. I am finding that the intrinsic reward of doing a good job and meeting the expectations of the firm’s partners are as important as the bonus system. In client law firms that have had similar problems we have found that by supplementing the bonus system with monthly reviews and coaching sessions with associates not meeting their targets has made the difference. Here is an outline of the process:
- Review you monthly billing/hours reports for all associates each month.
- Identify those are below targets and expectations.
- Meet with those associates that are below targets and expectations.
- Discuss why there are having problems meeting expectations. Lack of work, not working enough hours, poor time management habits, or poor timekeeping habits.
- Identify solutions to the above problems.
- Monitor and follow-up.
- Continue to meet every month until such time as the associate is meeting targets and expectations.
The bonus rewards those that want to push beyond the 1800 billable hours but does nothing to solve the problem of those not meeting the 1800 billable hour expectation.
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John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC
Posted at 08:56 AM in Compensation, Human Resources
Tags: Associate, Attorney, Motivation
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