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The Shift: More Partner Compensation Challenges Will Arise This Year

Amid softening corporate demand, law firms are in a profit bind about how to pay partners who have big compensation expectations. And it turns out law firms have limited strategies to address it.

On one hand, many law firm partners had their best year ever last year in demand and billing, leading to stunning profit surges among firms in the Am Law 100 and Second Hundred in 2021. While one year's billings don't exclusively determine lawyer compensation, firms usually take an average of the past two or three years in considering partner compensation. And 2020 was also a banner year for some, on top of a solid 2019.