ALMResearchBlog

Law School Hiring Stats

As part of its annual NLJ 250 survey, the National Law Journal surveyed the firms—including the ones that didn’t make the top 250 firms list—about their hiring: which law schools they hired from and how many were hired from each law school. That information is now available from ALM Research Online in the Lists & Rankings section as the 2007 Law School Hiring Survey. As a bonus, firms also contributed information about how many associates were elevated to partnership in 2007.

What Does ‘Non-Equity’ Really Mean?

Jim Cotterman posted this thought-provoking item question on the Altman Weil Blog, and went to explicate the meaning of “equity” and “non-equity.” He noted that 85% of firms with 100+ lawyers use the non-equity structure, and that those “partners” (his use of the quote marks) are “slightly more likely to be treated as W-2 employees for tax purposes, and the range of opinions on the subject ranges from cynicism (the firm is just trying to get their PPEP up) to advocating (an alternative for seasoned lawyers who want to stay, but don’t want to become business owners).

In the annual Am Law 100/200, the following definitions are used in order to distinguish between the two types of partners: “Equity Partners are those who file a Schedule K-1 tax form and receive no more than half their compensation on a fixed-income basis. Nonequity Partners are those who receive more than half their compensation on a fixed basis.”
 

Just Released: New York Law Journal 100

New York Law Journal Magazine’s annual list of the largest law firm offices in New York, the NYLJ 100,  is now available in the ALM Research Online database in the Lists & Rankings section. Non-U.S.-based firms were considered equally with domestic U.S. firms for inclusion on the list, though most offices ranked are in Manhattan. Data points, besides number of lawyers in the largest New York office, include: total number of lawyers in the firm; number of partners, associates, and other attorneys; and, number of attorneys in each of the firm’s offices. This searchable spreadsheet product is available free to subscribers, and for $100 to non-subscribers.