Faced with unprecedented changes in the legal profession usually referred to as the "new normal" firms must pay more attention than ever to improving their overall performance. Because one of the changes is a supposed oversupply of lawyers, a growing number of firms, midsize as well as large, are now conducting evaluations, not just of associates but also of partners. The purpose behind these evaluations is often just to classify certain attorneys as unproductive and get them out of the firm.
This is unwise. Getting rid of so-called "unproductive" partners may improve the firm’s financial performance, but it often does not improve the firm’s overall performance. On the other hand, fair and effective evaluations can improve individual partners’ performance and therefore overall firm performance.
