Five Ideas for Better Partners Meetings
Robert Harris, A Meeting of the School Trustees (1885)
Better partners meetings build better partnerships.
Some law firms avoid holding partners meetings except when absolutely necessary. We frequently hear law firm partners complain:
They’re a waste of time that we should be using to produce fees.
We never really decide anything.
They’re too divisive.
Basically, one or two partners dominate the meeting.
Although such perceptions are common in law firms of all sizes, all practice specialties, almost everywhere in the world, law firms make a big mistake when they avoid partners meetings or minimize their importance to being little more than an occasionally required ceremony.
Such an approach, although perhaps understandable in some law firms, is a short-sighted mistake, because it denies the firm access to one of its most important assets: the collective experience, insights, and wisdom of the partnership.
Here are five suggestions that Walker Clark clients have used to make their partners meetings more productive:
Hold a regularly scheduled meeting every month.
This remains the best way to share important information and discuss important issues in a timely way. It also helps to assure that issues that need partner-level attention get a full consideration, rather than trying to handle them as part of a much longer agenda less frequently (or, as often happens, never completely deal with them at all).
We recommend that our clients schedule monthly partner meetings twelve months in advance. This requires discipline, but it also minimizes the need for last-minute changes to accommodate individual partner schedules. Each partner knows well in advance that at a certain time on a certain date their primary duty to the firm and to their partners is to attend the meeting, preferably in person but by video conference if necessary.
Develop a standard practice for drafting and finalizing the agenda.
We typically recommend:
Ten days before the meeting: Circulate a draft agenda and request additional topics, input, refinements, and other ideas. Set a deadline for submissions. For each item, state the desired action or decision for that meeting, e.g.: communicate information; final approval; further study; appointment of a working group.
Three days before the meeting: Circulate the final version of the agenda and any supporting documents, references, or other information that should be considered in advance.
Prioritize the agenda items to make the best use of the available time.
Monthly meetings make it easier to have a preliminary discussion of an issue, identify additional information that is required for a well-informed decision, and defer the decision until the next meeting — while not unnecessarily delaying forward action. All items on an agenda may be important, but usually not all of them are urgent.
Include all the partners.
The clear trend today has been to give non-equity partners a voice and the right to vote on most management and policy issues, except certain ones that directly affect the ownership interests and therefore are reserved for decision by the equity partners. We recommend that law firms identify these reserved issues in their partnership agreement, bylaws, or similar “constitutional” documents.
Non-equity partners are the future of the law firm. Including them in significant roles, responsibilities, and decisions in partners meetings — making them more than mere spectators — is one of the most important succession planning strategies for any law firm. It gives the “next generation” of owners of the firm the practical knowledge and experience they will need when the current equity partners begin to retire.
Shorter-term, it is an excellent retention strategy that clearly communicates a strong business case and professional rationale for a non-equity partner to remain in the firm. The non-equity partner understands that they are not just a “glorified associate” or only an employee.
Rotate the chair.
Developing the agenda and chairing a partners meeting can be a significant amount of work, especially if the partners have committed to the other four suggestions. For this reason, as well as to give every partner experience in leading partnership discussions, some law firm have adopting a “rotating chair.” Each partner, regardless of equity status or title, takes a turn preparing the agenda, suggesting a prioritizing of the issues, chairing the meeting, and reviewing the minutes (often with the help of an “AI secretary”). However, it is vitally important that there be a consistent commitment to, and observance of, the partnership’s agreed expectations and rules for regular scheduling and agenda preparation each and every month.
This “rotating chair” has worked well for the European Union and the United Nations Security Council, as well as for law firms of all sizes and governance structures. Your partnership should consider it.