Partnership Harder to Get, Easier to Lose
Just in case associates at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner haven’t already noticed, the Washington, D.C.-based intellectual property boutique called a meeting recently to announce that it’s harder than it used to be to make partner.
Among other changes that are now being formally codified, the partnership track is lengthening and nonequity “income” partners will be evaluated for equity partnership at two-year intervals, reports New York Lawyer (reg. req.), in a reprint of a Legal Times article.
And one more bit of news that may be of greater interest to those who have already made partner—it’s now easier to lose that status. Only a 50 percent majority vote is required to strip a partner of his or her role, the article continues. Formerly, a 80 percent supermajority vote was needed.
But there are no plans actually to remove any current partners, says Richard Racine, the firm’s managing partner. “We’ve never removed a partner and have no intent to remove a partner.”
