The meteoric growth in law firm nonequity partners often comes with a side effect attorneys dislike: thousands of dollars in health and tax costs without the large profit payouts full partners get.
Several Big Law firms treat nonequity lawyers as full partners for tax purposes. That means they saddle them with Medicare, Social Security and health levies the lawyers didn’t face as associates.
With the added costs, financial planner Eric Scruggs said his nonequity lawyer clients’ take-home pay is only marginally better than associate wages. “The increase in total compensation from the bump in salary and bonus potential is washed ...