Lead partner colleagues as first among equals rather than through positional authority.
Leadership & Management
Leading Partners and Fee-Earners in Professional Services Firms
Lead partners as a first among equals and manage fee-earner performance, using the governance, compensation and succession tools specific to partnership-based firms.
🗓️Duration5 training days
📚Content4 modules · 8 sessions
🎓On completionAccredited attendance certificate
About the programme
Course Overview
Colleagues who co-own the firm, vote on its governance and can walk away with their own clients do not respond to an instruction the way an employee would, which is what makes leading partners a fundamentally different exercise from leading staff. This course addresses that reality directly: how to lead as first among equals rather than as a conventional line manager, how compensation models such as lockstep and eat-what-you-kill shape partner behaviour and cooperation, and how to manage fee-earner performance through utilisation, realisation and chargeable-hour metrics without reducing the practice to a spreadsheet. Practical work includes partner performance conversations, practice group leadership scenarios and succession planning for retiring partners and their equity, leaving each participant with governance and compensation trade-offs they can adapt to their own firm's structure and culture.
Expected Learning Outcomes
Compare lockstep, eat-what-you-kill and hybrid compensation models and their behavioural effects.
Manage fee-earner performance using utilisation, realisation and chargeable-hour metrics.
Facilitate a practice group meeting where partners disagree on resourcing or strategy.
Design a succession plan that transitions client relationships and equity from retiring partners.
Address underperformance in a partner without the formal authority available to line managers.
Build cross-selling and referral behaviour between partners who otherwise compete for credit.
Who Should Attend
Newly appointed managing partners and practice group or department heads.
Senior associates and directors preparing for partnership or equity promotion.
COOs and business managers supporting partnership governance in professional firms.
Partners leading a practice area within law, accountancy, consulting or architecture firms.
HR and talent leaders responsible for fee-earner performance and career development.
Firm leaders planning partner succession or a change in the equity structure.
Course Modules
Select any module to see its sessions and points.
01The Economics and Governance of Professional Firms
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1How Partnership Economics Work
- Explain how billable hours, utilisation and realisation rates drive partnership profit.
- Compare lockstep, eat-what-you-kill and modified hybrid partner compensation models.
- Identify how each compensation model rewards or discourages cross-partner cooperation.
- Read a partnership's profit and loss account well enough to discuss it with partners.
Session 2Governance Structures in Partnerships
- Map decision rights between the managing partner, executive committee and full partnership.
- Distinguish equity partners, salaried partners and fee-earners in governance terms.
- Identify where a firm's governance creates slow or contested decision-making.
- Explain a partner's dual role as owner, voter and fee-earner to a non-partner audience.
02Leading Partners as a First Among Equals
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Influence Without Positional Authority
- Build influence with partner colleagues through evidence, reciprocity and relationship.
- Chair a partner meeting where disagreement must be resolved without a formal vote.
- Negotiate resourcing between practice groups that compete for the same fee-earners.
- Handle a partner who bypasses agreed firm process because of their book of business.
Session 2Managing Partner Performance and Behaviour
- Hold a constructive conversation with an underperforming partner about client origination.
- Address partner behaviour that damages culture despite strong personal billings.
- Use peer review and 360-degree partner feedback appropriately within a partnership.
- Recognise the limits of formal sanction available against an equity partner.
03Managing Fee-Earner Performance and Growth
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Utilisation, Realisation and Chargeable Targets
- Set realistic utilisation and realisation targets for fee-earners at different levels.
- Distinguish billable performance from client service quality in a review conversation.
- Address chronic under-recovery of time without encouraging inflated timesheets.
- Balance chargeable work against business development and training time.
Session 2Developing Fee-Earners Toward Partnership
- Build a development plan that prepares a senior associate for partnership criteria.
- Give fee-earners honest feedback on their realistic partnership prospects.
- Delegate client relationship exposure to fee-earners without risking service quality.
- Coach fee-earners on originating work rather than only executing partner-led matters.
04Succession and the Future of the Partnership
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Planning Partner Succession
- Plan the transition of client relationships from a retiring partner to successors.
- Structure equity buy-out or run-off arrangements for departing partners.
- Identify succession risk where one partner holds a disproportionate share of billings.
- Sequence client introductions over several years rather than at the point of departure.
Session 2Evolving the Partnership Model
- Assess pressure on the traditional partnership model from alternative business structures.
- Evaluate non-equity or fixed-share partner tiers as a response to growth or investment needs.
- Redesign compensation to reward mentoring and cross-selling alongside personal billings.
- Present a proposed change in partnership structure to a sceptical group of equity partners.
What the participant receives
4 course modules
A structured syllabus
8 training sessions
across 5 days
32 detailed points
Applied, detailed content
Accredited attendance certificate
On completing the programme
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