Indications that the good times are back as two-thirds of partners say their income level is higher than it was before the economic crisis
Sixty per cent of law firm partners in Spain received an
increase in their income in the last year, according to new
research.
A survey conducted by Iberian Lawyer revealed that 38 per cent of
partners in Spain had received an increase in the last six months,
while a further 22 per cent had received an increase six months to
a year ago. Furthermore, in an indication that lawyers´
remuneration is beginning to surpass pre-crisis levels, a total of
65 per cent of respondents said that their current income had
increased in comparison to their income "prior to the economic
crisis".
Market optimism is further fuelled by the fact that most lawyers
expect their income to increase in the coming year. A total of 72
per cent said they expected their income to increase in the next 12
months – of those expecting an increase, nearly half (44 per
cent) said they expected their income to go up by at least 9 per
cent.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that many of the nation´s
lawyers are earning more, more than three-quarters of respondents
(77 per cent) said they thought their firm´s remuneration
system was effective. Two-thirds of participants in the survey
believed they were remunerated "in line with the rest of the
market".
However, not all partners in Spain have begun to feel more
prosperous in the last year. Around one in five partners (21 per
cent) said it had been more than two years since they had last
received an increase in their income, with half of those saying
their earnings had not increased for more than three years.
A total of 35 per cent of all respondents to the survey said their
current income was less than the income they received prior to the
economic crisis, while just over one in four (28 per cent) said
they did not expect their income to increase in the next 12
months.
One partner, who identified himself as a tax lawyer, criticised his
firm´s remuneration system because, in his view, it is not
performance related. "It [the remuneration system] is very
subjective and based on the number of units you hold, the more
senior you are, the higher your compensation, regardless of your
performance," he said. Meanwhile, another partner, also
a tax lawyer, said his firm´s remuneration system could be
improved by increasing the number of "remunerated units taking
into consideration years as partner".
A capital markets partner said the remuneration system at his firm
could be enhanced by "establishing a degree of certainty at
partner level", while one banking and finance partner said a
"fair profit allocation system improving the benefits of
junior partners" should be implemented at his firm. A total of
110 partners participated in the online survey in May 2015.
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