Law Firm Folk - Equity Partner has resigned - what now?

[Byelaws]

Hello fellow law firmees, I would love your insight and advice on partner resignation.

Its a tiny specialist team in a big city firm - support staff, me, and partner - doing very specialist work. Youngish (47) equity partner.

He was being really difficult and I asked another colleague about it. ‘Oh yes, he is no longer an equity partner’. Sure enough, he is off all the EP lists.

What does that mean - has he quit? Been kicked off? Is he about to leave? (And, as an aside, WTF when was someone going to tell me?) If he has resigned why is he still here, and what is going to happen to the team?

Who knows?! There may have been lots going on behind the scene.

Sounds like pushed though.

He sounds like he has been de-equitised, which is effectively a demotion to salaried or fixed share partner or other position.

It’s not anyone else’s business really - likely to be a bit humiliating for him and not something the firm should openly spread around.

Surprised that he's still there though and not 'spending more time with his family'

Presumably he’s now a salaried partner?

so a demotion.

is he very difficult but brings in a lot of money?

maybe he made a massive fuck up.

he’d still be getting a fuckton of money so I wouldn’t feel too sorry for him…

Thanks for the replies. I am the last to know - and the only person whose job depends on him.

I suppose it not something a partnership would tell anyone -as he is still a "partner" to all the world, still has a job, but they have just changed the basis on which he is paid. As he has stayed presumably your job will continue as before?

I am not sure. Would an exit partner need to serve notice?

Yes usually partners have to give notice but they can obviously agree whatever they like - gardening leave, working the notice, reducing the notice. As others have said he may not have resigned he may just have a different role now.

If he is no longer an equity partner he must be an employee.

Can you go out for a drink and try to find out his plans so you can start to think about whether or not you need to think about getting a new job? If he's happy to be an employee, then he'll stay. Very unusual though.

Yes, very difficult but profitable

Massive fuck up may have been to fall out with the Senior Partner. And be oblivious to ramifications

Potentially your department isn't meeting the financial targets that can warrant him drawing the profit share as an equity partner so he has simply been de-equitised and become a salaried partner. Or he may have resigned and be working his notice.

He’s likely been demoted. It’s unlikely if he handed in his notice they’d demote him during his notice period. I expect he might consider leaving now though.

I can’t go out for a drink with him. He is currently being so difficult I am struggling with basic professional conversations.

Do you have another partner you could talk to - a mentor or similar? If he’s being massively difficult you’ve got good reason without the equity shenanigans.

I’d also call a headhunter - sorry

Yeah, I’ll try to find someone to get information from but I don’t think the other senior people would gossip and the juniors won’t know more than I have.

Is it poor etiquette to ask the partner directly?

Is your department part of a sub team? Eg. often a niche department such as planning may be part of the wider property team. Is there a head of that wider team you could talk to on the basis that you note X is no longer an equity partner and where does that leave you in terms of progression (rather than what's the deal with x but hopefully you would still find out what is going on).

It’s exactly as you describe re the sub team. There is someone there - I will speak to them. It is all so sensitive.

Time to dust off the CV I expect. Damn.

You say v profitable but is it really by the standards of your firm? If there is only a partner and one less senior lawyer unless he is bringing in much bigger deals, specialist work probably won’t hit his billing targets as he won’t have enough associates billing. Even if you and him work all hours.

I'd see it as an opportunity. He quits, you stay, you make yourself indispensable. He quits, you go with him, get a pay rise. Worse case he moves by himself and the firm bins your sub team - you get £££ redundancy and solid excuse to be moving on.

Actually this is a fair point. I know we have met all the billing targets but we are small - and there has been very little growth

Yes I think it would be inappropriate to ask him for details, particularly if your relationship is not great. It’s a bit tone deaf.

I think you know the gist now; he’s been demoted which means that there‘s an increased chance that he’ll leave and either that (a) the department will fizzle out with him; (b) they’ll hire a replacement if they want to invest in that practice area; or (c) there will be an opportunity for you to step up.

He may not know the firm’s plans as he’s likely to be out in the cold. The better plan is to identify another senior mentor who can steer you through this.

Thanks. I am off to start a thread about recommended recruiters in the legal sector…

It’s hard to say from your posts but he may have been demoted from equity to salaried partner. I knew someone who this happened to - basically they had to suck it up until they could get a partnership elsewhere. If it’s a specialist department, often there are salaried partners rather than equity because although they are essential they don’t bring in big bucks.

I would also guess he has been de-equitised and it is not something he wants to share as it must be pretty humiliating. I would guess he will probably look to move, maybe taking you with him if you are a well-established team of two. But there's no harm in dusting off the CV and seeing what other options there are.

It is also possible he has given notice and the firm are being difficult about it. Notice period for partners is typically 6 months to a year, which feels like forever if the management are behaving like utter dicks towards you. Which would explain the grumpiness.

Thanks all. I found out some more. In this case there has been a re-organisation post-merger and quite a few partners are changing which band they are in.

So, not humiliating as such. And they are all still ludicrously well paid - limited sympathy from me