Partnerships and LLCs

• Balancing firm level profitability, reinvestment needs, and predictable partner take home pay while maintaining fairness across partners and senior non partner leaders.
• Choosing and evolving partner compensation systems (lockstep, formula based, subjective, hybrids) as the firm grows, diversifies, or changes leadership.
• Designing and administering profits interest or other LLC equity programs that are tax efficient, understandable, and consistent with the operating agreement.
• Integrating new partners, lateral hires, and key non owner executives into the compensation and ownership model without destabilizing existing economics.
• Managing complex issues such as buy ins, buy outs, redemptions, retirement, and succession in a way that is financially sustainable and perceived as equitable.

              Partner Compensation Strategy and Design

• Define an explicit partner compensation philosophy that clarifies the balance between performance, seniority, ownership, risk sharing, and firm cohesion.
• Assess and design partner pay systems (e.g., equal partnership, modified lockstep, formula based, performance point systems, hybrids) aligned with strategic priorities and culture.

              Profits Interests, Capital Interests and LLC Equity

• Design and model profits interest, capital interest, and other LLC equity arrangements, including thresholds, vesting, and distribution waterfalls.
• Coordinate economics, tax treatment, and governance between compensation design and the LLC/partnership agreement, including 83(b) considerations and valuation thresholds.

              Executive and Non Partner Leadership Compensation

• Build competitive compensation programs for C suite and senior non partner leaders (e.g., COOs, CFOs, practice heads) that complement partner economics.
• Design short  and long term incentive plans for non partners that align with firm performance while managing dilution and preserving partner control.

              Performance Measurement and Earnings Allocation

• Define performance scorecards for partners and executives (billable work, origination, leadership, team development, strategic initiatives) that tie directly into pay decisions.
• Create earnings allocation and bonus pool frameworks that connect firm results and individual contribution to distributions in a transparent, repeatable way.

              Governance, Policies, and Transparency

• Establish clear policies and decision processes for pay setting, dispute resolution, and annual reviews to enhance trust and reduce internal friction.
• Support compensation and management committees with charters, calendars, documentation standards, and communications to current and prospective partners.

              Succession, Entry/Exit and Long Term Sustainability

• Design entry, buy in, and progression models for new partners, including capital contributions, vesting, and timelines.
• Structure retirement, buy out, and transition arrangements that are financially sustainable and preserve continuity for clients, teams, and remaining owners.

• “Partner and Executive Compensation Health Check” that benchmarks the current system, identifies pain points, and lays out a prioritized roadmap for change.
• Earnings allocation and distribution model (including scenarios) that makes clear how firm profit flows to partners, key executives, and reinvestment.
• Term sheets and summary guides for profits interest and capital interest programs, written for both leadership and participating executives.