{"id":109115,"date":"2025-02-24T15:04:35","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T23:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/02\/24\/top-5-biglaw-firm-is-considering-creating-a-nonequity-partnership-tier\/"},"modified":"2025-02-24T15:04:35","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T23:04:35","slug":"top-5-biglaw-firm-is-considering-creating-a-nonequity-partnership-tier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/02\/24\/top-5-biglaw-firm-is-considering-creating-a-nonequity-partnership-tier\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 5 Biglaw Firm Is Considering Creating A Nonequity Partnership Tier"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Biglaw firms with single partnership tiers are now few and far between, with more big-name firms showing that they\u2019re ready, willing, and able to welcome nonequity partners to their ranks.<\/p>\n

Cravath was one of the first longtime holdouts to cut bait and create a\u00a0\u201csalaried partner tier\u201d<\/a>\u00a0(i.e., nonequity partners) back in November 2023. That move gave other highly ranked firms permission to tread the same path, including Paul Weiss, which announced its\u00a0new two-tier partnership plan<\/a>\u00a0in March 2024; WilmerHale, which added a nonequity partnership tier<\/a> in August 2024; and Cleary, which announced its own new partnership platform<\/a> in October 2024.<\/p>\n

Now, we\u2019re seeing reports that Skadden, the #5 firm in the country by gross revenue, may be in the running to create its own salaried partner tier. Financial News<\/a> has the scoop:<\/p>\n

\n

US law firm Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom is mulling the introduction of a salaried tier of partners, amid fierce competition for talent among top law firms. \u2026<\/p>\n

Rivals have increasingly adopted the structure which gives junior lawyers the coveted partner badge earlier in their careers, but without diluting profits for equity partners.<\/p>\n

Skadden\u2019s partnership is expected to discuss plans to adopt salaried partners later this year, according to people familiar with the situation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Skadden \u2014 which brought in $5,403,000 in profit per equity partner in 2023 \u2014 is reportedly considering making these changes after a series of lawyer exits to competing firms with a two-tier partnership system. As noted by Bloomberg Law<\/a>, the largest law firms in America could soon have more nonequity partners than equity partners by the end of 2025. <\/p>\n

Best of luck to the firm in its decision-making process on this important issue.<\/p>\n

Is your firm planning to increase its nonequity partnership ranks? Please please text us (646-820-8477) or\u00a0email us<\/a>\u00a0and let us know. Thanks.<\/p>\n

Skadden eyes non-equity partner switch amid law firm talent battle<\/a>\u00a0[Financial News]<\/p>\n

Skadden Mulls Non-Equity Tier as Partner Pay Pressure Mounts<\/a> [Bloomberg Law]<\/p>\n

\n
\"Staci
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Staci Zaretsky<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email<\/a> her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Threads<\/a>,\u00a0or connect with her on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Top 5 Biglaw Firm Is Considering Creating A Nonequity Partnership Tier<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Biglaw firms with single partnership tiers are now few and far between, with more big-name firms showing that they\u2019re ready, willing, and able to welcome nonequity partners to their ranks.<\/p>\n

Cravath was one of the first longtime holdouts to cut bait and create a\u00a0\u201csalaried partner tier\u201d<\/a>\u00a0(i.e., nonequity partners) back in November 2023. That move gave other highly ranked firms permission to tread the same path, including Paul Weiss, which announced its\u00a0new two-tier partnership plan<\/a>\u00a0in March 2024; WilmerHale, which added a nonequity partnership tier<\/a> in August 2024; and Cleary, which announced its own new partnership platform<\/a> in October 2024.<\/p>\n

Now, we\u2019re seeing reports that Skadden, the #5 firm in the country by gross revenue, may be in the running to create its own salaried partner tier. Financial News<\/a> has the scoop:<\/p>\n

\n

US law firm Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom is mulling the introduction of a salaried tier of partners, amid fierce competition for talent among top law firms. \u2026<\/p>\n

Rivals have increasingly adopted the structure which gives junior lawyers the coveted partner badge earlier in their careers, but without diluting profits for equity partners.<\/p>\n

Skadden\u2019s partnership is expected to discuss plans to adopt salaried partners later this year, according to people familiar with the situation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Skadden \u2014 which brought in $5,403,000 in profit per equity partner in 2023 \u2014 is reportedly considering making these changes after a series of lawyer exits to competing firms with a two-tier partnership system. As noted by Bloomberg Law<\/a>, the largest law firms in America could soon have more nonequity partners than equity partners by the end of 2025. <\/p>\n

Best of luck to the firm in its decision-making process on this important issue.<\/p>\n

Is your firm planning to increase its nonequity partnership ranks? Please please text us (646-820-8477) or\u00a0email us<\/a>\u00a0and let us know. Thanks.<\/p>\n

Skadden eyes non-equity partner switch amid law firm talent battle<\/a>\u00a0[Financial News]<\/p>\n

Skadden Mulls Non-Equity Tier as Partner Pay Pressure Mounts<\/a> [Bloomberg Law]<\/p>\n

\n
\"Staci
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Staci Zaretsky<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email<\/a> her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Threads<\/a>,\u00a0or connect with her on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Biglaw firms with single partnership tiers are now few and far between, with more big-name firms showing that they\u2019re ready, willing, and able to welcome nonequity partners to their ranks. Cravath was one of the first longtime holdouts to cut bait and create a\u00a0\u201csalaried partner tier\u201d\u00a0(i.e., nonequity partners) back in November 2023. That move gave […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":109112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Staci-Zaretsky-ywMsGC.jpeg?fit=150%2C100&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}