Once upon a time, becoming a partner in a law firm meant you became an owner of the business and shared in the profits with the other equity partners. The
Corner Office: Uses and Abuses of the Two-Tier Partnership
By the late 1990s, many law firms adopted a practice that significantly changed the original partnership paradigm. They created a new position, called nonequity, income, or contract partner, into which associates who were not admitted as equity partners could be placed. In effect, they created a two-tier partnership. This permitted them to retain associates longer, with the prospect that equity partnership might still be in their futures. But it was seldom made clear just how far into their futures.
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