Once it was the exception for a partner to leave a firm. Now the revolving door of partner departures has been deemed a modern-day law firm fixture. What steps can a departing partner or an acquiring firm take to minimize risks and reduce potential liabilities? This essential guide answers those questions. Legal expert Geri Krauss provides guidance for both the partner and the acquiring firm in connection with exploring a new affiliation.

The weak economy and large number of firm layoffs have resulted in a flood of potential new solo and small firm lawyers starting their own practices in the wake of the exodus from BigLaw. Small practice lawyers, well seasoned or just starting out, can gain immeasurably by just applying even a few of the myriad tips within this book.

"A counterintuitive and optimistic reconsideration of the crisis in the American legal profession"--

This newly updated fifth edition of Compensation Plans for Law Firms examines the continually evolving compensation landscape and the concepts that will affect your law firm most. You'll take an extensive look at the world of law firm compensation, including: -- Compensation theory --The art and science of compensation -- Partner and shareholder compensation -- Of Counsel compensation -- Associate Compensation -- Paralegal compensation --Staff Compensation -- Bonuses, increases, and incentives -- Debt, taxes, retirement, and withdrawal -- Evaluations, fairness and flexibility --And much more! Learn Where Your Firm Stands The book also features valuable data from the leading legal consulting firm Altman Weil's annual and triennial surveys on law firm performance and compensation, retirement and withdrawal and compensation systems. Charts and graphs help you see where your firm stands on salaries and bonuses, and it gives you detailed analyses of compensation plans for everyone in your firm. Compare your compensation system to law firms across the country. This one volume provides you with your primary research source leading you to auxiliary sources for further information as appropriate. They can support your current compensation system, or help you reevaluate your current methods of compensation. Careful advance consideration is essential to the success of your compensation plan. Using this valuable reference you can develop a compensation plan that conveys fairness, simplicity, and flexibility and strike the perfect balance within your firm.

The Great Recession intensified large law firms’ emphasis on financial performance, leading to claims that lawyers in these firms were now guided by business rather than professional values. Based on interviews with more than 250 partners in large firms, Mitt Regan and Lisa H. Rohrer suggest that the reality is much more complex. It is true that large firm hiring, promotion, compensation, and termination policies are more influenced by business considerations than ever before and that firms actively recruit profitable partners from other firms to replace those they regard as unproductive. At the same time, law firm partners continue to seek the non-financial rewards of being members of a distinct profession and are sensitive to whether their firms are committed to providing them. Regan and Rohrer argue that modern firms responding effectively to business demands while credibly affirming the importance of non-financial professional values can create strong cultures that enhance their ability to weather the storms of the modern legal market.

A noble profession is facing its defining moment. From law schools to the prestigious firms that represent the pinnacle of a legal career, a crisis is unfolding. News headlines tell part of the story—the growing oversupply of new lawyers, widespread career dissatisfaction, and spectacular implosions of pre-eminent law firms. Yet eager hordes of bright young people continue to step over each other as they seek jobs with high rates of depression, life-consuming hours, and little assurance of financial stability. The Great Recession has only worsened these trends, but correction is possible and, now, imperative. In The Lawyer Bubble, Steven J. Harper reveals how a culture of short-term thinking has blinded some of the nation’s finest minds to the long-run implications of their actions. Law school deans have ceded independent judgment to flawed U.S. News & World Report rankings criteria in the quest to maximize immediate results. Senior partners in the nation’s large law firms have focused on current profits to enhance American Lawyer rankings and individual wealth at great cost to their institutions. Yet, wiser decisions—being honest about the legal job market, revisiting the financial incentives currently driving bad behavior, eliminating the billable hour model, and more—can take the profession to a better place. A devastating indictment of the greed, shortsightedness, and dishonesty that now permeate the legal profession, this insider account is essential reading for anyone who wants to know how things went so wrong and how the profession can right itself once again.