Ed. note: Welcome to our daily feature, Quote of the Day.
It opens more doors and more opportunities when you have that [income] tier. Firms, I believe, are also looking to protect their equity partnership and ensure it’s healthy and economically viable. So, finding a path where you can make someone a partner without diluting the equity partnership is solved by having a nonequity tier.
— Lorie Almon, chair and managing partner at Seyfarth Shaw, in comments given to the American Lawyer, concerning the possible motives for Biglaw firms to adopt different partnership tiers. Almon added, however, that partnership tiers can’t become a “caste system,” explaining, “All of our partners participate in financial calls. They’re sharing the same information. We don’t see it as sort of—’the equity partners, who are the owners, and then other people who are not as valuable.’”
Staci Zaretsky is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.
The post Biglaw’s Prime Directive: Don’t Dilute Equity, But Avoid Making It Seem Like A ‘Caste System’ appeared first on Above the Law.