Canadian Lawyer

people are looking for as job seekers," says Roberts. However, the survey delivers good news for those who prioritize cold, hard cash above the more abstract ele- ments of compensation: 71 per cent of respondents fore- cast a salary boost for associates in 2017, ranging typically between two and 10 per cent on top of current levels. Our respondents also struck an optimistic tone when it comes to hiring plans, with 42 per cent planning to increase their lawyer count by the end of 2016, up from 24 per cent at the same time last year, while just over six per cent of firms predict a downsizing. According to Colin Cameron, a Vancouver-based law firm management consultant, intangibles are also in vogue in the upper echelons of law firms, despite the enduring popularity of simplistic profit allocation methods such as eat-what-you-kill. EWYK remained the most popular partner compensation method in our survey, used by 35 per cent of responding law firms, but that was down from 40 per cent in 2015. Cameron predicts the proportion will fall further as partners continue to search out new ways to measure and reward subjective leadership accomplishments that don't show up in spreadsheets of billable hours and direct rev- enue generation. "It's certainly simpler, and in some ways more transparent, to focus on those factors that you can easily put a number to. It's more difficult to evaluate how good someone's training is, whether they're supervising associates properly, and how their project management skills are," says Cameron. "But I think more and more the trend is for firms to realize they need to recognize these contributions if they're going to increase their long-term profitability." However, the transition often proves tricky, as one respondent at a mid-sized Western law firm complained: "Migrating to a revised compensation model while senior partners oversee the compensation process" has led to problems in "succession planning and rewarding business development efforts" at the firm, they wrote. "Often there will be different interests between part- ners, who are perhaps closer to retirement and thinking about cashing out in the short term, versus younger part- ners just starting out, who are more likely to be thinking longer term," Cameron says. The short-term news was good at 56 per cent of responding firms, where partner earnings increased last year, according to the survey, although that figure may have benefited in part from the de-equitization of partners, which was reported at around nine per cent of respondents. In-house counsel Corporate legal departments foresee a similar year this year to last, with around 41 per cent of respondents bud- geting less than $500,000 for legal spend. A further 45 per cent have set aside between $500,000 and $2 million, while almost 14 per cent have budgeted more than $10 million. Associate compensation (national) Sample size 30 Year of Call Median Lowest Highest 2015 $73,000 $50,000 $95,000 2014 83,000 57,000 110,000 2013 90,000 55,000 120,000 2012 100,000 60,000 120,000 2011 109,500 78,200 130,000 2010 120,000 90,000 130,000 2009 126,250 93,000 200,000 2008 and earlier 125,000 75,000 265,000 39.1% 34.8% 21.7% 0% 4.4% In the coming year, your firm will… Associate monetary billing target Sample size 95 Sample size 23 Under $200,000 $200,000-$300,000 $301,000-$400,000 $401,000-$500,000 Over $500,000 1 2 3 Will associate salaries increase in 2017? Sample size 42 1 2 3 Keep the same number of lawyers 51.6% Hire more lawyers 42.1% Downsize 6.3% w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m J U L Y 2 0 1 6 31 No Yes 64.3% 35% Up to 1,000 1,000- 1,300 1,301- 1,600 1,601- 1,800 More than 1,800 0% 0% 18.2% 22.7% 59.1% Associate billable hour targets Sample size 54

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