Question:
I am the sole owner of a five lawyer firm in Indianapolis, Indiana. The other lawyers are associates. Our firm focuses entirely on estate planning and probate and trust administration as well as elder law. I am 60 and do not plan on retiring for another ten years. Two of my associates have been with me for 8-10 years and are vital to my practice as well as my eventual succession and exit strategy. I do not want to lose them so I am considering making them non-equity partners and giving them the title of partner. I am not ready to have any equity partners at this time. I have a production bonus system in place for the associates so I don’t plan on changing their compensation or the system under which they are compensated. How can I make their promotion to partner meaningful?
Response:
Here are some things you might consider:
The title of partner in itself is more important than you might think but it requires that a big a buildup. If you only do one thing – do the buildup announcement and secondly include them more in firm management.
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John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC
Posted at 09:43 AM in Partnership