The $20 Million Biglaw Partner AKA 'The Kirkland Effect'
Want your partners to stay? Then it's time to pay!
The Kirkland effect is that there are people out there with businesses that justify basically almost any amount of compensation. And so if Kirkland always wants these people, and is willing to pay them, if you want these people, you also have to be willing to join the pay party.
— Recruiter Mark Jungers of Lippman Jungers Bala, telling Insider what other Biglaw firms must be wary of when it comes to pay for their top partners. In order to avoid the potential for poaching, compensation for partners with big books of business has gone up tremendously. “It’s ballplayer money,” said Sarah Morris, a recruiter at Macrae. According to legal recruiter David Walden of E.P. Dine, “It used to be unheard of to have partners make 8, 10, 15, and some of them $20 million a year.” That’s hardly the case anymore, with some partners taking home eight-figure salaries.
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.
