Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.wpost From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: LAWYERS=Associates Groping for the Keys to Partnerships=By Saundra Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 09:54:16 EST Message-ID: <36.1992Nov23.095416@AmeriCast.com> LAWYERS=Associates Groping for the Keys to Partnerships=By Saun- dra Torry=Washington Post Staff Writer= One young lawyer calls it a "brooding omnipresence." Another is so jittery he fears that just talking about it will "jinx" his chances. And a third wants to know, "What does it take to be su- perperson?" As it looms, the 1992 partnership season - when some young lawyers are anointed and others are left behind - can be summed up in a single phrase: low expectations. Associates at the big firms have looked at the flat economy and are bracing for disappointment. Some already know their fate. Covington & Burling elevated only one associate to partner. Three young lawyers made it at Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge, where 12 associates had been in the running. Yesterday, Arent, Fox, Kintner, Plotkin & Kahn elevated only two of 19. On Satur- day, Arnold & Porter associates fared better when nine of 15 made it after several had dropped out. At Akin, Gump, Hauer & Feld, associates won't hear until Dec. 15. The final score around town won't be in until the end of the year. And because some firms refuse to say how many associates are eligible for partnerships, the statistics don't tell the whole story. The young lawyers' attitudes may tell more. Even before the vote was taken at Arnold & Porter, two lawyers were rationalizing de- feat. "You have to have close to a perfect record" to make partner, one associate said. "If someone can find a reason to knock you down, they will."A colleague opined, "It's almost liberating that it is perceived to be a harder year."The young lawyers' fears were confirmed by those who watch the marketplace. "Law firms are becoming far more selective about the numbers they admit to partnership," said Howard Mudrick, vice president of the Hildebrandt consulting firm. Mudrick predicts that fewer new partners will be selected this year than in 1991. Looking at Washington, legal recruiter Susan Schneider said, "Some firms are having a tougher time than they let on. ... Firms are looking at the bottom line and it is more and more dif- ficult to make partner." Few outside the profession can understand the life-and-death na- ture of this milestone. Associates have worked for seven years - some longer as the partnership tracks have lengthened - strug- gling to attain the money, prestige and security of partnership. In a major firm, it means an income of $130,000 to $150,000 in the first year and is the key to a lifetime of opportunity. The alternative can be bleak. Some will be forced within a year to leave their firms because of "up-or-out" policies, which provide no place for senior asso- ciates. Other Washington firms allow associates a second try for partnership after a year's wait. And this year for the first time Arent, Fox opened the prospect of a third try, according to managing partner Rodney Page, who said the change provides "more flexibility for good people we'd like to keep."Other firms confer different titles, such as counsel or nonequity partner, on those who fall short of their goal. Shaw, Pittman, for instance, named six lawyers as counsel. But none of these positions has the status of partner.If the young lawyers are looking for a villain, it is, of course, the economy. While some of their elders insist that the criteria for partner- ship has not changed one whit since the booming '80s, and the economy does not enter the decision, the young lawyers know better."If you're realistic, you figure there is some considera- tion of the economy and the financial health of the firm, what the demands are on the practice and what areas you see growing," said one associate. "It would be a strange business if you didn't consider that at all."Hildebrandt's Gerry Malone said firms are looking for what she calls "owner mentality" in prospective partners: their ability to build business, supervise younger lawyers and participate in business decisions. In the boom years, partnership was an expected reward for good performance. Just five years ago, said Malone, "law firms were making so much money that in many instances it was easier to sim- ply let people in" as partners than to turn them down. Now, according to Page, success is driven partly "by being in the right place at the right time." Partners consider which areas of practice are growing, and which are not. Success also may depend upon which firm the associate originally chose. Hogan & Hartson, for instance, made 13 new partners last week, its larg- est class in history. Some, though, are nonequity partners, who still are a step away from the full benefits of partnership. Associates are groping for the new keys to the partnership door. "Yes they are looking harder at partner decisions," said one Shaw, Pittman lawyer. "But what they're looking at or for, what defines superperson, is less clear." A few of the young lawyers have become hardened about these unc- ertain times. Those up for partner began their careers in the boom years and many have ridden to salaries of more than $100,000 a year. Now, one young lawyer said, he was willing to take the conse- quences of the downturn: "For my generation the philosophy is, 'You live by the market. You die by the market.' " Randall to the Rescue