Maria Ciampi, left, and Arthur J. Ciampi, right,. Courtesy photos
As the above title demonstrates, “ignorance is not bliss.” Quite to the contrary, not knowing can hurt, and, in the case of law firm partners that “hurt” can come from their very own firm partnership agreement. In this column, we ring some warning bells regarding potentially harmful law firm partnership agreement provisions in the hope of keeping our readers out of harm’s way.
Experience has demonstrated that law firm partners rarely read their own partnership agreement. Moreover, when they do, they only read those provisions which effect a particular imminent event or moment. For example, at “comp time,” some partners will review their partnership agreement concerning compensation (sometimes referred to as distribution of profits and losses), and, when considering departure, they review a firm’s notice provision and the clauses concerning payments to departing partners. Too often, law firm partnership agreements are rarely otherwise read.
