A book supports higher compensation, as most firms emphasize collections in apportioning points. A book creates autonomy; without one, a junior partner must cater to and depend on rainmakers to keep her busy and justify her standing. And a book enables mobility: without “portable business,” the lateral market can be a chilly expanse, but with it, warm receptions await.
Unfortunately, structural dynamics of big law make it harder than ever for a junior litigation partner to build a book. Large companies have entrenched relationships with senior partners who get most if not all the billing credit, regardless of whether a junior partner actually runs the cases. Mid-market, small, and start-up companies, meanwhile, usually are not natural fits for a big law firm. Such would-be clients may suffer sticker shock from junior partners’ rates. Or they may not be willing or able to pay what it costs to see a case through with a big law firm. For its part, the firm (i.e., the firm’s senior partners) may not be willing to take a case on contingency or bank on the would-be client’s ability to pay.
Although all funding agreements are different, typically they partly entail lawyers discounting their fees in exchange for a contingency interest, thus dispelling sticker shock. In addition, the would-be client will be more willing and able to take meritorious cases to a junior partner at a big law firm, as it costs nothing: the funder pays the fees, and the financing is non-recourse. The junior partner, meanwhile, immediately adds fees to her ledger without any doubt about collectability and, if she achieves a successful settlement or judgment, the contingent payout will significantly exceed full-fare rates, which will stand out when it is time for the executive committee to cut up the pie.
Almost every rising litigator has had the frustrating experience of turning away a friend, former classmate, or other connection who has a good case but cannot pay full freight and needs a contingency arrangement or otherwise does not (yet) fit the big law client profile. That regular experience becomes more frustrating still when the lawyer turning down the business is trying to build a book to secure her place in the partnership and the profession.
With litigation finance, however, that partner can say yes to meritorious cases from such connections, and thereby bring in a new, growing client; immediately chalk up collectible fees; and establish herself as that increasingly rare and valuable phenomenon: a junior partner with a book.
