A Guide to Law Firm Of-Counsel Positions

A Guide to Law Firm Of-Counsel PositionsA Guide to Law Firm Of-Counsel PositionsIf youre familiar with law firms, youre probably familiar with associates and partners. Partners have an equity stake in the firmand run things. Associates work there and are paid as employees. Some, but not all, associates aspire to be partners, and the traditional BigLaw up or out system seems to have limited options for associates who arent made partner eventually. But, theres another platzdeckchen of options that are becoming increasingly popular, ?non-equity partners and of counsel positions. In this article, well talk about counsel positions.? What, you might wonder, is an of counsel position? Heres how the American Bar Association defines it Definition A part-time practitioner who practices law in association with a firm, but on a basis different from that of the mainstream lawyers in the firm. Such part-time practitioners are sometimes lawyers who have decided to change from full-time practice , either with that firm or with another, to a part-time one, or sometimes lawyers who have changed careers entirely, as for example former judges or government officials.A retired partner of the firm who, although not actively practicing law, nonetheless remains associated with the firm and available for occasional consultation. A lawyer who is, in effect, a probationary partner-to-be usually a lawyer brought into the firm laterally with the expectation of becoming apartner after a relatively short period of time.A permanent status in between those of partner and associate, having the quality of tenure, or something close to it, and lacking that of an expectation of likely versetzung to full partner status. Source Formal Opinion 90-357 of the American Bar Association For example, say you have an attorney in a firm who has excellent skills, but practices in an area thats not highly profitable (trusts and estates is a common example). Your clients sometimes need the attorneys expertis e, which is highly specialized but arent willing to pay a ton of money for it and dont need it most of the time. You dont want to send these clients elsewhere, for competitive reasons, but you also dont want to pay this marginally profitable attorney partner-level compensation. What to do? Make him of-counsel and pay him more than anassociate, but less than a partner. The advantage for the attorney is job security they know that theyre valued by the firm and wont be pushed out at the end of a certain number of years (as associates who dont make partner typically will be). Being of counsel, rather than a partner, is also an option for attorneys who prefer a more predictable, less time-intensive schedule. For many, the tradeoff of a substantially lower (but still high by any reasonable measure) salary for lower hours is a good one. People in this category could include attorneys returning to the firm after a stint in government, older attorneys interested in gradually downsizing the ir practice, and parents returning to the workplace who want a better work-life balance than being a law firm partner typically affords. The Downside of an of Counsel Position There are potentially several downsides to being of counsel rather than a partner. The most obvious is reduced pay. Attorneys who are of counsel will typically make a high associate salary, as opposed to the much higher average profits-per-partner. (Junior partners typically make much less than the average, but the upside potential of being a partner over time is much higher than being a salaried of-counsel.) Theres also a prestige hit to being of counsel. Although this may be offset by the downsides of actually having to do the job, saying youre a partner at a major law firm sounds impressive For many attorneys, however, the benefits of having an of-counsel position outweigh the downsides, and its a good mix of the steady income of associate life with the relative job security of partnership.