The Highest Offer Isn’t Always The Best Offer
There is no one right plan for lateral integration, but it is important to do your due diligence before you join a firm.
Michael Allen
Ed. note: This is the latest installment in a series of posts from Lateral Link’s team of expert contributors. Michael Allen is Managing Principal at Lateral Link, focusing exclusively on partner placements with Am Law 200 clients and placements for in-house attorneys.
They say a bird in hand is worth two in the bush and the same logic should apply for lateral partner moves. Base pay is not trivial, but too many partners develop tunnel vision when it comes to the bottom line number and end up choosing a firm that won’t maximize their long-term profit. So what is the proverbial “bird in the bush”? Lateral integration.
According to an ALM 2014 survey, lateral integration is the best predictor of partner satisfaction. This is unsurprising; in the long-run, a well executed lateral integration leads to the expansion of the lateral partner’s client-base — and ergo, their pay. Good integration plans accomplish this by aligning the partner’s skill-set, experience, and clients with the firm’s clients and platform. The end result is a fully fleshed out practice with earnings that can be double or triple what the lateral partner started with.
There are many different models for successful partner integration plans, but partners should look for plans that include these vital elements:
1) Executive Involvement. The best lateral integration plans involve different levels of leadership to add perspective and to help benchmark integration plans. Generally the plan should involve the office managing partner, practice chair, and for global firms, a member of the global executive committee. Each person brings a different perspective to the table: the office managing partner, a microscopic office-wide focus, the practice chair, a macroscopic practice perspective, and the committee member, a bird’s-eye view of the entire firm. They will help you craft a plan that meets all of their expectations in a reasonable and timely manner.
Mayer Brown has taken this concept to the extreme. Chair Emeritus Herbert “Bert” Krueger devotes his time to helping lateral partners integrate with the firm. Krueger helps lateral hires craft business plans and integration budgets. Former Managing Partner Debora de Hoyos serves as the Global Client Relationship Partner, and helps new lateral hires connect with relevant Mayer Brown lawyers and client teams. This specialized approach means two of the most knowledgeable people in the firm are crafting the most efficient integration plan possible that allows attorneys to hit the ground running, with a smooth plan to ramp up to full capacity in a manageable time frame.
2) Marketing Plan. Unfortunately, the bulk of most firms’ lateral marketing starts and ends with a press release announcing their new hire. Even before a lateral partner starts, the marketing team should be made aware of the new partnership, and should be given a prospectus on the partner. The incoming partner should work together with the marketing team to craft a message that not only markets them to clients, but internally to their peers as well. Many firms approach marketing in an archaic fashion, preferring to limit their exposure to sporadic press releases and whitepapers.
A good marketing department will help you augment your business by helping you identify clients and key contacts, and helping you sell your (and the firm’s) brand to capture new business. This can add millions to your book by alerting clients and colleagues to your capabilities, and creating more opportunities for business origination and cross-selling.
3) Support System. Support systems are paramount to easing a lateral transition. These systems can take various forms. Ropes & Gray, for example, has an in-house psychologist that every lateral hire has to meet.
An even better support system is mentorship, especially for younger partners. These mentors can assist partners in various capacities. They can serve as a bridge into the new firm’s culture, teaching the new hire firm etiquette. This transition can often be stark. For example, some firms skew heavily right or left on the political compass. Transitioning abruptly from one pole to the other can easily incite a faux pas. However, even more importantly, an esteemed mentor can throw their weight around to help keep a lateral integration plan on track. Many partners also inherit their mentor’s business upon retirement, which often adds seven digit gains to their take-home.
There is no one right plan for lateral integration, but it is important to do your due diligence before you join a firm to make sure that the firm offers the requisite support to help you not only integrate your business, but to grow it too. Oftentimes, the highest offer a partner receives accompanies the sparest lateral integration plan; in these instances, firms are simply buying your book.
If you truly care about your long-term prospects, shop for a firm that is not only sold on your business, but also your potential at the firm. This synergistic relationship will help you realize windfalls many times greater than that attractive base pay from the avaricious firm. The first step towards that windfall is picking a firm with an effective lateral integration plan.
Lateral Link is one of the top-rated international legal recruiting firms. With over 14 offices world-wide, Lateral Link specializes in placing attorneys at the most prestigious law firms and companies in the world. Managed by former practicing attorneys from top law schools, Lateral Link has a tradition of hiring lawyers to execute the lateral leaps of practicing attorneys. Click ::here:: to find out more about us.
