THE MOST COMPLETE AND AUTHORITATIVE TREATMENT OF LAW FIRM PARTNER COMPENSATION EVER WRITTEN
'United States · Europe · Latin America · China'
The definitive global reference on how law firms pay their partners and why it matters more than any other management decision a firm makes.
By Jaap Bosman - co-authored by Jaime Fernández Madero
Your compensation system is limiting your growth. Every system, without exception, pivots towards the calculated self-interests of the individual partners. This book provides answers by raising questions — covering every major system, every market, and the psychological, cultural and strategic dimensions that formal analysis almost always misses.
Available on your local Amazon website, your national online bookstore and can be ordered at your local bookstore
THE PROBLEM THIS BOOK SOLVES
The silver bullet does not exist.
But a way forward does.
Law firms spend disproportionate amounts of time discussing compensation. Time that is not spent on clients. Not spent on strategy. Not spent on growth. Managing Partners are invariably looking for the compensation formula that finally ticks all the boxes.
This book provides answers by raising questions. You can start anywhere, and from the first page you will understand where the essential problems sit and how to unlock the way forward. It is the most thorough examination of partner compensation ever put between two covers — drawing on decades of consulting experience across four continents and original research into what clients actually value.
"A compensation system is never just a formula for distributing money. It is the financial expression of a culture, and the two are so deeply intertwined that changing one without attending to the other is almost certain to fail."
JAIME CAREY
Senior Partner, Carey · 2025 President, International Bar Association · From the Foreword
WHAT'S INSIDE
Fifteen chapters - One topic fully covered
Ch. 1 & 2
Psychology & what compensation really is
Why partners obsess over relative standing, the capuchin monkey experiment, and the Creation/Production Divide©.
Ch. 3
Compensation systems
Eat-what-you-kill, lockstep, modified lockstep and black box — examined without sentiment, including the NFL analogy and the Benchmark Capital case.
Ch. 4
The 7-Core Dimensions©
Original research on what clients actually praise: 83% of Chambers quotes concern non-legal attributes. The framework that maps what clients pay for.
Ch. 5 & 6
Partnership size and performance
Original research on what clients actually praise: 83% of Chambers quotes concern non-legal attributes. The framework that maps what clients pay for.
Ch. 8 & 10
The quite good partner & origination credits
The 80% who form the engine room, why they are neglected, and why origination credits are reliably destructive.
Ch. 11 & 12
Strategy culture & compensation
The Goldman Sachs IPO as a case study. Why culture and compensation are a one-way street and what Slaughter and May and Freshfields chose differently.
Ch. 13
Partner Compensation in China
The corporate-style versus team-based model: two fundamentally different theories of what a law firm is for, examined from within a single market.
Ch. 14
AI and compensation
The amplification gap AI creates between exceptional and average partners. Why the 7-Core Dimensions© are the map of the post-AI talent landscape.
Ch. 15
Private equity in law firms
Three ecosystems, three different stories. The MSO structure, what PE brings, and the generational tension between who gains and who pays.
WHAT READERS SAY
Endorsed across continents
"A must read for all law firm leaders who believe they need to redesign their partnership model, and even more so for those who do not."
DANIEL DAENIKER
Senior Partner, Homburger (Switzerland)
.
"This book provides all the information a lawyer and the firm would need. The book invites to think and discuss. I would recommend every partner to read it."
Prof. GAO XIANG
CUPL College of Comparative Law (China)
.
"Jaap and Jaime have delivered a guide that is clear, honest, and grounded in the real workings of law firms."
MANUEL GALICIA
Founder & Chairman, Galicia Abogados (Mexico)
.
WHO SHOUL READ THIS
Essential reading for
Managing partners navigating compensation reform
Compensation committee members seeking an evidence base
Investors and advisers entering the legal market
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Jaap Bosman
FOUNDER & CEO - TGO CONSULTING
One of the world's foremost strategy consultants to the legal sector. Founder and CEO of TGO Consulting, advising elite law firms and premier legal departments across Europe, the Americas and Asia for over two decades. His prior books — Death of a Law Firm (ABA, 2015), Data & Dialogue (2019) and A New Dawn (2020) — are required reading in legal management circles.
Bosman studied at the Design Academy Eindhoven before reading law at Tilburg University, graduating with honours, and subsequently spent fifteen years in legal practice. Recipient of the FT Innovative Lawyers Award (2013) and the Thomson Reuters Excellence in Legal Marketing Award (2011). Regular contributor to the ABA Journal.
Known for original frameworks that cut through received wisdom: the TGO Value Matrix©, the Creation/Production Divide©, and the TGO Power Curve©.
Jaime Fernández Madero
CO-AUTHOR - FERNANDEZ MADERO CONSULTING
Founder of Fernández Madero Consulting, a leadership, strategy and management consultancy focused on law firms across Latin America. One of the founders of Bruchou, Fernández Madero & Lombardi, one of Argentina's top law firms, where he served as managing partner for ten years before dedicating himself full-time to law firm management consulting.
He holds a law degree from Universidad Católica Argentina and a Master in Comparative Law from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, as well as a Master in Organisational Studies from Universidad de San Andrés. Author of Organizando Firmas de Servicios Profesionales (Thomson Reuters, 2012). For thirteen years he organised the Thomson Reuters Latam Legal Briefing, one of the most important gatherings of legal industry leaders in the region.
GET THE BOOK
Available worldwide
This book is distributed worldwide however actual availability and distribution may vary depending on your location. The book is published as hard cover, paperback and ebook. In most countries the book can be ordered on Amazon. If you cannot find it in you national Amazon store, try Amazon.com, Amazon.es, Amazon.de or Amazon.co.uk. The book is also available on a wide variety of alternative online stores. Alternatively, in most countries the book can be ordered through your local bookstore. A special translated edition will become available in China soon. Should you experience any difficulties in finding the book, or have any other questions, please send an email to hakanson@tgo-consulting.com