When It Is Time To Let A Partner Go

Partners can go through waves of productive and not-so-productive periods. But what should a firm do about those partners who cannot seem to dig out of an unproductive slump — or even worse, do not seem to want to? While it is not the type of situation any managing partner wants to confront, this article looks at why tackling the issue head-on is the best course of action.

HOW DO YOU DEFINE PERFORMANCE?

The definition of underperformance depends, in large part, on your firm's documented goals along with unwritten expectations, its criteria for evaluating performance and the terms of your partnership agreement. Increasingly, in some firms, senior partners are being labeled as underperformers not because their contributions have changed, but because their firms and the legal marketplace have changed their standards.