Event: Navigating the Ever-Changing Compensation Equation for Law Firm Leadership by Insider Practice

Date: 11 April 2023

Mode: Online

Costs: Paid Registration

Curriculum: 

Participants will determine in what order and to what depth we will cover the following modules:

Module 1 – Compensation Plan Structure, Metrics, Tools and Processes:

• Addressing inherent conflict, inefficiencies, and disincentives built into present day compensation plans – and what some firms are doing to modernize compensation criteria, processes, and tools.
• How is your firm quantifying the value of intangible contributions? Participants will work on real, but anonymized compensation scenarios in a wide-open format that encourages interaction.
• We will work through case studies and exercises to identify gaps between current plans and modern practices in a variety of contexts. How easy is the plan to administer? How effective are the reporting systems? 

Module 2 – Managing Expectations:

• Performance, culture and pay equity – positioning compensation as a driver of change.
• Did firms overspend in 2022 – and did partners underperform?
• How transparent is your comp plan and how well do the partners understand the link between their behaviors and the corresponding rewards or penalties?
• How well does the comp plan manage partner expectations and reduce perceptions of inequity?
• What are the cultural implications of your plan?
• What will likely change, for better or worse, if you change the plan?
• How is your firm rewarding profitability, addressing origination and/or management pay? 

Module 3 – Linking Compensation to Strategy:

• How well does your compensation plan further (or hinder) firm strategy? 
• How effectively is your plan linked with the roadmap for success within the partnership, or on the path to partnership? 
• How well does your plan support (or hinder) succession planning? 
• How well does your plan not only reward, but drive desirable and profitable behaviors consistent with the long-term interests of the firm? 

Module 4 – The War for Talent:

• The dangers of pay/salary wars on the economic stability of your firm and implications around over-hiring associates.
• Are we over-committing on associate salaries? and laterals?
• Is firm resilience being derailed by rising compensation costs?
• To maintain compliance, we will not discuss or compare associate salaries or bonuses. The focus is on self-induced constraints that tend to complicate law firm recruiting efforts

Register here