If you haven’t already seen our remuneration reports in this magazine, please look for them, they are incredibly detailed and give you a clear understanding of how each type of firm/company structure the remuneration for legal professionals, at all levels.

Every law firm has differing challenges.

We believe the future of legal remuneration is going to be much more tied to the individual and merit-based, and less about salary bands and other nonsense invented by HR.

Here are 20 different remuneration structures a law firm can use to compensate its lawyers:

1. Lockstep - Compensation based on seniority level according to a fixed grid. Rewards tenure.

2. Modified lockstep - Lockstep model but allows individual pay adjustments based on performance.

3. Eat what you kill - Each partner is paid directly based on the business they generate and the work completed. Rewards business development.

4. Performance-based - Bonuses and raises tied to individual performance reviews, origination, and other metrics.

5. Team-based - Lawyers are grouped into teams that share compensation based on team revenues, cross-selling, etc. Collaborative.

6. Merit-based - Base with bonuses determined by subjective assessment of each lawyer's contribution and value to the firm.

7. Owner - Equity partners who share profits based on ownership percentage. Incentivizes long-term growth.

8. Hybrid - Combination of base pay, individual bonuses, and equity profit sharing. Allows customization.

9. Salary - Set pay similar to other industries. Provided at market rates.

10. Hourly - Pay rate per billable hour worked. Time-based compensation.

11. Origination credit - Compensates partners for new business brought into the firm through client relationships. Rewards business development.

12. Billable hours - Base pay plus bonuses tied to annual billable hours achieved above a target threshold. Drives utilization.

13. Client credit - Partners allocated a portion of all revenue generated from their clients. Encourages client retention and growth.

14. Equal distribution - All firm profits are distributed evenly as baseline compensation to all partners. Promotes internal collaboration.

15. Responsibility model - Pay based on role and leadership duties such as practice group lead, office managing partner, etc. Values management.

16. Retention bonuses - Additional incentives paid to keep top-performing partners from leaving the firm. Focuses on talent retention.

17. Rainmakers - Outsized compensation to star partners who generate the majority of the firm's business. Maximizes short-term profits.

18. Flexible scheduling - Reduced hours at proportional compensation. Accommodates work-life balance goals.

19. Pure eat-what-you-kill - Pay solely based on business generated by each partner. Rewards entrepreneurialism.

20. Succession transitions - Customized compensation designed to gradually move ageing partners to retirement and next-generation leaders up.

The optimal approach depends on aligning remuneration design with overarching firm strategy, culture and talent needs.

Firms often use hybrid models combining several elements.

Focus on the person - and what will drive them forward, and therefore your business forward - everyone is different.

If you want to strategise with Rob, contact him at rob@thegrmgroup.com

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