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Editor's Column

Are you ready for the challenges of being a law firm partner?
By:  Robert Booth, Mills Shirley LLP

It’s been exactly one year since the firm elevated me to partner. Learn from my experience and be prepared when you become partner.

Savings

Did you bill many hours in November and December? Neither did the rest of the attorneys in your office. As a partner your take-home depends on how many hours are billed. As a new partner, don’t expect large distributions in January or February. Depending on your expenses, you probably will need a cash reserve of at least three months of living expenses and probably much closer to six.

In February, my wife and I learned we were expecting our first child. If we hadn’t built our savings to cover the first few lean months as partner, it would have been much harder to get our home ready for the baby.

Earn the respect of your associates

Just because you’re a partner doesn’t mean your associates will treat you differently. Whereas before your relationship with the associates might have been in friendship, now you must depend on those associates for your paycheck.

Take an interest in each of your associates’ practice areas and development as an attorney. Your associates will appreciate the attention and you’ll learn things that will help you in strategic planning for the law firm. Helping your associates will ultimately benefit your firm.

More Work

As partner you will participate in firm management. Expect your non-billable workload to increase dramatically. Expect to spend more time on personnel, overhead, strategy, and collections.

Starting over

Do you remember being the newest associate attorney? Over the years you may have worked your way up to handling more significant matters and responsibility. As a new partner, expect to be on the bottom again. Just as you worked your way up the associate ladder now you have to do the same thing as a partner.

Stay motivated

Working harder and receiving less pay is extremely demotivating. Work through it and reap rewards at the end of the year.

Robert Booth is a partner with Mills Shirley LLP practicing civil litigation from Galveston Island. Robert is an elected member of the Board of Directors for the Texas Young Lawyers Association.