Considering a Law Firm Partnership Offer?

Up for partnership at your law firm? Negotiating an offer for another law firm? Then read Michael J. Anderson of Edge International's white paper, "Partner Compensation Systems in Professional Services Firms," published by the Managing Partner Forum. Anderson examines the strengths and weaknesses of seven basic models of compensation systems used to divide partnership profit in law firms:

Understanding the law firm's model for dividing partner profits -- and the benefits, risks, and incentives that model comes with -- is critical to deciding whether to accept an offer of partnership and where your points of negotiation might lie. Although this particular article is written from the perspective of law firms deciding on compensation models, it's an equally valuable read for the lawyer up for partnership.