Canadian Lawyer

of firms that responded to the Compensation Survey plan to hire more lawyers in the coming year other compensation for lawyers working at law firms and in-house legal depart- ments across Canada, provides law firm and law department leaders with insight into current trends as they look to man- age their teams. LAW FIRMS It may provide some relief to newly called lawyers to hear that 45 per cent of firms that responded to the Compensation Survey plan to hire more lawyers in the coming year, 53 per cent plan to keep the same number of lawyers, and just two per cent plan to downsize. This year's hire- back numbers for articling students are also better than last year's, another indi- cation that while salaries are not growing rapidly, there is work out there. The survey shows merit is still the cent use a different method altogether. Fifteen per cent of law firm respondents recorded having partners who get paid more than $450,000, whereas last year it was 10 per cent. In terms of targets for lawyers, only most common compensation method for equity partners, at 44 per cent; 17 per cent said they use equal partnership; four per cent said lockstep; and 35 per 30 per cent of respondents set an annual billable hour target for partners; 10 per cent pay a bonus to partners who reach it, and four per cent enforce a penalty for failing to reach it. It's a bit of a different story for associates with 44 per cent of law firms setting an annual billable hour target for them; 33 per cent pay a bonus to associates who achieve it, and five per cent enforce a penalty to those who come up short. Thirty-eight per cent of firms have an GET NAMES, MAILING ADDRESSES, E-MAIL ADDRESSES AND PHONE NUMBERS FOR LAWYERS AND LAW OFFICES IN ALBERTA, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES, NUNAVUT AND YUKON With the Alberta Legal Telephone Directory you'll have access to the most up-to-date names, addresses, phone, fax numbers and e-mail addresses for all of the lawyers and law offices in Alberta, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon ALSO QUICK AND EASY ACCESS TO: • Courts • Judges and Court Officials • Law Related Services/Organizations • Federal and Provincial Government Departments • Boards and Commissions Published August of each year Spiralbound • L88804-587 Prices subject to change without notice, to applicable taxes and shipping & handling. WITH: • Alphabetical and geographical listing of lawyers • Alphabetical and geographical listing of Law Firms • Alphabetical listing of Judges MULTIPLE COPY DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE: 1 - 9 copies: ............$39.50* ea. 10 - 49 copies: ...........$37.53* ea. 50 - 99 or more copies: ....$36.34* ea. 100+ or more copies: .....$34.76* ea. CANADIAN LAW LIST (*Plus applicable taxes) ORDER ONLINE AT WWW.CARSWELL.COM 36 JULY 2012 www. CANADIAN Lawyermag.com ntitled-2 1 12-06-08 9:44 AM annual monetary billing target for asso- ciates with the greatest number, 45 per cent, falling in the range of $200,000 to $300,000. "We do not live by the almighty billable hour, we try to value bill as many of our services as possible, managing partner commented. In terms of bonuses, 49 per cent of " one law firm law firms handed them out to associ- ates in 2011, which is down from 67 per cent in 2010. Of those who handed out bonuses, 55 per cent reported they were discretionary. While at many firms partnership agreements, forms of compensation, as well as the bottom line are not nec- essarily common knowledge, one sur- vey respondent said the firm shares its financial information with associates so they can gain a better understanding of their compensation rates. "It's a very dif- ferent market at smaller firms and junior lawyers need to understand the business aspect of it and get an accurate picture of what they will get paid at smaller firms," the managing partner said. And it appears compensation sys- tems are working well for most organi- zations with only nine per cent of law firms completing the survey saying they plan to alter their compensation meth- ods next year. See charts on opposite page for more on salaries and earnings for associates and partners in law firms. IN-HOUSE LAWYERS Responses to this year's survey indicate that corporate legal departments are also functioning under restricted budgets. For 45%

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