Here’s How To Treat Law Firm Employees, Who Are Outwardly Very Similar, Very Differently On Remuneration…And Get Away With It…

Some of the discussion about equal pay is often a little blinkered, which I guess accurately reflects humanity.

Disappointingly too many people have similar characteristics to sheep in that they blindly wish for being treated the same as others.

They can be quite paranoid about it, allowing it to obscure one of life’s basic realities, that people are not born equal at all, and become less equal as time goes on.

For some, it doesn’t matter, and they get on and make it a lot better, and for some it does matter but they make it even worse because of their mindset.

As a legal employer I’ve had people in the second category insist on being paid the same as team members they perceived to be their equal, and be quite miffed when I indicated that I was willing to reduce their salary to allow that to happen and to put them at ease!

Right now I am working with three Family Lawyers in one firm, who are all capable and talented, with good attitudes, about the same experience, but it’s important to me and to the firm Principals that we remunerate them differently.

Here’s why…

Lawyer A is married, with a husband who is a fellow professional, and they have three children of school age. It suits this lawyer to work for my client law firm for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. She is interested in business development and mentoring staff, and invests substantial time in those areas of FirmTime? despite working shorter days than Lawyers B and C. She works remotely quite a bit of the week.

Lawyer B is married, with a wife who works fulltime, and they have not started a family yet. They are getting into the property market, and want to make and save as much as possible in this phase of their lives. This lawyer works five days a week, nine hours a day. He is particularly interested in business development, and invests substantial time in it. He does not choose to work remotely.

Lawyer C is not in a relationship, has no children, and has chosen to work a 38-hour week…7.6 hours a day. She is not strong in business development, and invests very little time in it. She is not at this stage interested in remote working, preferring the camaraderie of the office and its many opportunities for ad hoc mentoring over and above the firm’s formal program.

Their KMSWorkPlans? can be provided to any interested reader, with material removed that might identify firm or team members…

Readers who review the WorkPlans? will see immediately that the anticipated fees Invoiced (the firm operates with sufficient retainers in Trust at all times so bad debtors are negligible) vary greatly lawyer to lawyer, but that is patently NOT the reason I wish to pay them very differently, and nor is gender an issue of course.

While Lawyer B and Lawyer C will both invoice around $440,000 annually, Lawyer B will work about 18% more for the firm, with all of that difference being invested in business development…an activity the firm values at least as highly as fee generation.

Lawyer B will be paid more than Lawyer C…no apologies.

Lawyer A will invoice around $255,000, and invest about 460 hours a year in business development and mentoring…activities the firm values highly. Lawyer A will be paid less than Lawyer C, and a lot less than Lawyer B, but again the main reason is not fees expected to be invoiced.

Lawyer A will work on what the firm wants done, and what she has most interest in, but she will do it for under 70% of the time that Lawyer B does, and about 80% of the time that Lawyer C works.

They will be paid very differently, each fully understanding how their remuneration is arrived at, and the firm Principals and I will in all likelihood be very happy with the input and outputs of all three valuable team members.