Biglaw

Cravath Cracks On Non-Equity Partnerships

The firm that built the traditional law firm model adds an income partnership tier.

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Businessman checking money, US dollars, in the envelope just given by his partner

Here’s your salary, partner.

For a very long time, being partner at a law firm meant something. Equity partners were all in it together,  sharing the firm’s risks and benefits. Over time the title has diluted — as non-equity “partnerships” became fancy versions of what used to be Counsel positions. Worse, they’re often career dead-ends for women and minorities that the firm can present as “partners” without actually sharing the wealth.

After holding out for years, Cravath has decided to join in on the two-tier partner wave.

From Bloomberg Law:

Cravath, Swaine & Moore has quietly created a salaried partner tier, making it the latest in a series of Wall Street law firms to revamp pay schemes in response to new competitive forces.

The firm “recently established the salary partner role,” Faiza Saeed, Cravath’s presiding partner, said Tuesday in an internal memo viewed by Bloomberg Law.

The firm says the move enables them to promote and retain senior talent. Sounds like lawyer speak for Cravath has a lot of attorneys that it doesn’t see as potential equal terms partners. Is this generation really just not up to the standards of yesteryear or are the folks at the top just holding on too tightly these days?

Cravath is unlikely to be the last firm to do this, rumblings have been underway that Paul Weiss is also considering the change. At least one thing is for sure — this bit of trivia is no longer accurate.

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Cravath Adds Salaried Partner Tier in Latest Wall Street Shift [Bloomberg Law]

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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