Chinese law firms generally operate either under a centralized profit-sharing corporation model or a decentralized commission-based model. (For part one of this story, click here.) But when it comes to remuneration system, the two models become more complicated and over intertwined.
In general, partner compensation at Chinese firms trails that of Western firms. In prime markets such as Beijing and Shanghai, Chinese firms partners typically make somewhere between about $150,000 and $800,000, according to three partners from different firms, while a small club of partners makes between $1.3 million and $1.6 million or more. At corporation-style firms, these sources agree, partners tend to have higher pay that is clustered in a somewhat narrower band than is seen at commission-model firms, where the gap between the compensation of the lowest- and highest-paid partners can be much higher.
