ID-704-Sam Brotman

Q: One of the things I’m working on in my firm is compensation. So now we have a senior associate and we have two junior law clerks that will be attorneys this year. I’m trying to figure out a structure that motivates the younger attorneys not just to bill hours but start to develop as leaders within the firm. It means that they will able to handle cases independently and have to rely less and less on senior leadership. I want to incentivize their development quickly. How do I figure out their compensation model?
A: If it makes more money for you, share that money with them. So define what it means to be in control of a case and for example say, _This is how we’ll know if you’re in control of a case. We’ll know if you’re in control of a case because every month in our case status meeting you’ll be able to answer these twelve questions. And every case you’re in control of you’ll get an extra hundred bucks a month. By the way part of being in control of that case means the clients are current are in their payment to us because if you’re not current on the payment, you’re not in control of the case._ So they now have an incentive to make sure that the firm is getting paid on the case.