In a process called de-equitizing, law firms set retirement dates for certain equity partners or reduce them to salaried status, cutting them out of the yearly profit distribution. After a decade of law firm and government work, she made partner at an elite firm but was nudged out the door a few years later. Those who have reached the top rank, at least at big law firms, work more hours than their lower-ranked colleagues, according to figures from Citi Private Bank’s Law Firm Group. Until that rotund middle is reduced, Mr. Cotterman of Altman Weil said, nonequity partners will not be anomalies. “With law firms having to add 5 percent to 15 percent in new business each year just to stay even,” he said, all law firms are going to have to slim down “in some form.”

Source: New York Times November 22, 2016 00:32 UTC