Making partner. Time was, these two little words made eight years spent as an associate — working weekends, scrambling over last-minute assignments, biting your tongue when dealing with ulcer-inducing clients — all worthwhile.

Somehow, being made a “nonequity, income partner” just doesn’t have the same ring. But get used to it. Two-tier partnerships have arrived with full force. In fact, many young lawyers now expect to spend two or three years in the limbo of nonequity partnership.