Legal Mosaic Essays on Legal Delivery

<strong>Legal</strong> <strong>Mosaic</strong>: <strong>Essays</strong> on <strong>Legal</strong> Delivery
How many of them take the long view? How many invest in infrastructure
that streamlines delivery to improve customer experience? And
why do law firms take a short-term view in a vertical where customers
(clients) clamor for change?
The Law Firm Partnership Structure and PPP
The traditional law firm partnership model rewards an ever-shrinking
cadre of equity partners. Firm “success” is generally measured by PPP,
the holy grail of legal metrics. A high PPP enables firms to retain rainmakers
and entice new ones to join its ranks. It is the also a key element
in firm acquisitions.
PPP is what once kept the next generation of firm talent working hard
and staying in the fold, because they too wanted to grasp the golden
ring. Those who lost the partnership sweepstakes were usually assured
a tenured home at the firm or partnership at a smaller one with lower
PPP. Translation: a book of business has always mattered, but not to the
extent that it does today.
Optimization of PPP now comes at a steep cost. That includes foregoing
a long-term approach. Disaggregation, heightened competition, and
a buyer’s market, are among a spate of factors creating stress cracks on
the traditional law firm structure. To preserve PPP, firms must adopt
a “future is now” strategy. And to do that often requires “pruning the
herd” of upcoming talent and service partners.
There is a generational divide within most law firms. Older partners
generally favor stasis to preserve PPP. Younger partners and those in
line for promotion lack a say in the firm’s direction, investment, and
hiring/firing decisions. Equity partnership is now a statistical long shot.
Thoughtful young lawyers might ask: “What is it that I would be taking
over, anyway?”
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