In Business Las Vegas has released its new list of the biggest law firms in Vegas, measuring "biggest" by the number of local counsel. And the top five firms for quantity of local counsel are:1. Lionel Sawyer (60 attorneys, 30 partners)
2. Lewis and Roca (48 attorneys, 20 partners)
3. Greenberg Traurig (43 attorneys, 17 partners)
4. Lewis Brisbois (41 attorneys, 15 partners)
5. Snell & Wilmer (40 attorneys, 11 partners)
Congratulations to the top five. Always nice to have pitchers in the bullpen when your starter gets tired.
On a side note: Really, Lionel Sawyer? Your firm is made up of 50% partners? I'm all for rewarding talent, but how rewarding is a 30 way split of end of year earnings?
A suprising list, considering that Jones Vargas isn't on it, with 62 attorneys, of which, in true Lionel-ian style, 34 are partners.
ReplyDeleteWhups...excuse me...The title does say "in Vegas" not "Nevada."
ReplyDeleteI'm planning on taking up thinking before commenting as a hobby.
The firm where I work has more partners than associates (~1.5 partners per associate), but that includes equity & non-equity partners.
ReplyDeleteHighly productive attorneys & rainmakers become equity partners.
Highly productive attorneys that are not rainmakers become non-equity partners - they're too good to lose when they're up for partner but don't generate enough business to feed other partners and their associates, so are sort of like 'billing partners' or 8th-15th year associates.
I met a non-equity partner from a firm here in town and it seemed like he kind of got the shaft the way it sounded. He basically lost all of the company provided benefits (e.g., insurance, parking, etc.) because he was now a "partner" but obviously no equity.
ReplyDeleteWell - a new non-equity partner generally makes a higher 'salary' as opposed to what he/she made as a 7th year associate (presuming a 7 year partner track), enough so that it easily offsets the cost of insurance, parking, increase in social security deduction (now 'self-employment tax).
ReplyDeleteThe 'salary' is really a fixed draw from projected firm 'profits' that does not increase as profits of the firm increase that year or reduce if firm profits decrease, so it acts more like a salary than a profit draw or disbursement.
It's also often used as a stepping stone to equity partner, which is how it's done here often.
LSC is 33% partners, not 50%. 60 + 30 = 90. 30 / 90 = 33%
ReplyDeleteNevermind. I read 60 associates, not 60 attorneys. -4:23.
ReplyDeleteIt is incredible to me that our biggest law firm only has 62 attorneys in its LV office. Why are the firms so small here? I think SLC has 100 person firms.
ReplyDeleteHow big was LSC in it's prime?Before all the regionals got here?
ReplyDeleteThis may be a really stupid question that shows I know absolutely nothing about how "partnership" works, but why does someone lose benefits when he or she becomes a partner??? I realize the person becomes an owner, but an owner can particpate in insurance etc. And someone loses his parking when he becomes a partner? I don't get it. I thought partners were like employees who also get a cut of profits.
ReplyDeleteYou don't lose them out right, you just lose the benefit of the firm paying for them.
ReplyDeleteA 'partner' is an owner of the company, not an employee. At the larger firms, an owner (partner) does not usually get a salary. Instead, at the beginning of the year, the firm does an economic projection of the expected yearly revenue/expenses/profits, takes out a line of credit or a loan with a bank based on those projections, and secured by A/R and other firm assets.
ReplyDeleteBased on this, and however the firm's partnership agreement is laid out, the partners take an 'advance' on the expected profits of the firm. Then at the end of the year the firm settles out and usually pays out all remaining profits, resets the balance to zero (absent retained earnings/investment/capital contributions, and offset by A/R and projected write-offs) and starts over again with another yearly projection.
Also, as an owner, and not an employee, one has to pay self-employment tax instead of splitting that equivalent of social security with the employer, make monthly or quarterly estimated tax payments, and usually cover various expenses that were previously provided by the firm. But if the firm does contingency cases and gets a huge payout, equity partners get a part of that huge payout.
I'm guessing that in the example cited @ 7:44p above, parking was included for employees but partners had to pay for it. Same for insurance possibly. I don't have first hand knowledge, but I believe that my firm subsidizes a portion of all of these things, plus provides tax and estate planning for partners.
I don't speak from partner experience at a law firm, but as a partner in previous businesses having only recently become an attorney.
To July 9, 11:58, LSC is about 80 attorneys firm-wide. It is not any smaller now than it was before the regional firms started coming.
ReplyDelete