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LAW OFFICE MANAGEMENT Belize for a month. Beyond that, because I'm not paying them a fixed salary, I couldn't care less if they're working or not." — MICHAEL THACKRAY, THACKRAY BURGESS maternity benefits that could be of critical importance to many women. But her own circumstances are such, she says, that she likes the freedom "to work when I need to work, because I have a lot of interests and I like to have my own free time." Bryan Ede, another consultant with the firm, also says he can earn more money now than he could in his previ- ous position — as a senior partner with a national law firm. Ede has a unique perspective since he previously held the position of Calgary managing partner at Miller Thomson LLP. Describing the Thackray Burgess compensation mod- el as "a counterculture to most other firms," he says lawyers at the firm have more freedom to come and go, serving their clients as they see fit, and there is less need for disciplinary rules and meetings to keep everyone in line. "It's a difference in approach that overcomes a lot of the dissatisfaction that lawyers have and that law firm managers else- where are spending a lot of time work- ing on," he says. Attendance at client functions and marketing events, often the bane of a law firm associate's life, is not compulsory for Thackray Burgess consultants. In fact, they don't have expense accounts for cli- ent lunches and other such entertain- ment. So it is up to them, whether and how they want to cultivate relationships with clients, but they are apt to do so one way or another, says Thackray, because it is "an investment in their own careers." While consultants don't enjoy job se- curity and cannot count on any "lock- step" progression to partnership, Thack- ray says it is in everybody's interest to do everything possible to retain lawyers by ensuring they get plenty of challenging work. "We do everything we can to en- sure they get to the point where we can't afford not to make them shareholders," he says. As Thackray observes, clients don't generally care much about their law firm's compensation model and internal organizational structure, but the model appears to work for clients insofar as it tends to attract lawyers with entrepre- neurial attitudes. "Our lawyers are happy and pleasant, and perhaps clients appre- ciate working with lawyers who are not in a permanent, bitchy mood." Could this model work for other law firms? Yes, if you are starting a new firm with a clean slate, says Thackray. But, he adds, it is hard to imagine moving an es- tablished law firm in this direction. "Eat- what-you-kill scares the pants off a lot of people. If you tell an associate at a law firm, 'Instead of a monthly salary, we're going to pay you only for the hours you work,' I think the reaction could be quite considerably negative." DD CL HRQTB-03 Frntr ad 3/6/08 4:21 PM Page 1 Need help selecting Ergonomic Office Furniture? Reduce neck, shoulder and wrist strain by choosing OBUSFORME® Keyboard Support Keyboard support reduces reaching and awkward postures. Patented Floating Mouse Tray® slides over keyboard's numeric portion and can be easily moved to either side when keys are in use. To order please use product code #25108-00 Kevin Marron can be reached at Kevin@ kevinmarron.com "In circumstances where we're running at 120-per-cent capacity, we would prefer that the people who are working on a file don't go to U C PREFERRED SUPPLIER E yourONE source supplier for Office & Furniture Products Corporate Promotional Products Printing & Graphic Services Law Office Essentials Corporate Supplies Search & Registration Services OFFICE & FURNITURE PRODUCTS dyedurham.ca 1-888-393-3874 Fax: 1-800-263-2772 www. C ANADIAN mag.com APRIL 2008 19 a D Y I n E 9 p N d & 9 C n D R m a 1 H a A n M S a 8 W e ' r e y C i o a