Dinsmore's Josh Lorentz Discusses Partner Compensation Reviews

Dinsmore Finance Committee and Intellectual Property Department Chair Josh Lorentz spoke with The American Lawyer for an article about what is considered in a firm's compensation review process. An excerpt is below.

At Dinsmore & Shohl, the firm’s 21-member board publishes a compensation recommendation, and it takes a two-third majority of the partnership to approve it. The board is made up of both practice leaders and office representatives.

To determine partner compensation, the firm also uses a 14-point set of criteria that includes standard variables such as hours, fees and profitability, as well as mentoring, contributions to other partners and committee work, said Josh Lorentz, a partner and chair of the firm’s intellectual property group. But one thing that’s changed over the last couple of years, he said, is how they analyze and reward nonequity partners.

“As we know, associate salaries have escalated—in some cases and markets—significantly, and in order to keep pace with nonequity partners, you have to look at how they’re compensated and give due deference to some of their contributions that aren’t necessarily on the page of numbers, but definitely show up and are highlighted in our 14-point criteria,” he said.

Lorentz said typically nonequity partners have been recent associates, and they typically will have insights about relationships with associates.

“A lot of time your nonequity partners are doing a lot of work to supervise and bring along associates, and they’re more involved in committee work. So you have to look beyond the page of numbers where the nonequity partners really make an impact,” he added.

Read the full article here.