Origination credit is shunned at law firm of former Schiff Hardin lawyers
A new law firm formed by former Schiff Hardin lawyers is taking a different approach to lawyer compensation.
The law firm, Riley Safer Holmes Cancila, is eliminating origination credit and the requirement that associates bill 2,000 hours a year, Crain’s Chicago Business reports. The firm is also giving clients a choice of paying by the hour or by the assignment, and about a third have chosen per-assignment billing.
The new firm’s name partners include two former leaders at Schiff Hardin: its chairman, Bob Riley and its managing partner, Ron Safer. They lost their management positions at Schiff Hardin amid a one-vote shift on the executive committee and a disagreement on how to improve firm metrics. They left Schiff Hardin in January along with 20 other partners.
With new associate hires, Riley Safer Holmes Cancila now has 45 lawyers.
Safer tells Crain’s Chicago Business that there was no billable hours requirement when he joined Schiff Hardin. The partners “were worried about developing my ability to service the firm’s clients, and they felt the rest would take care of itself,” Safer said. “That went away somewhere along the line.”
