Initial findings from the IBA’s remuneration research show firms are combining clarity over partner progression with tougher performance expectations. Over 100 leading firms have already participated.
The research is ongoing, and we welcome further participation from law firms through survey link. All responses are anonymous, and participating firms will receive an executive summary of the findings.
Law firms are asking more of their partners. Progression is becoming less automatic, appraisal more common and the power to reduce remuneration more widely used. Alongside this, bonus decisions increasingly recognise contribution beyond individual financial results.
These are among the initial findings of the IBA Law Firm Management Committee’s Global Remuneration Survey being completed by Lexington´s Moray McLaren and Stephen Revell. The research project is ongoing, but comparisons with the 2020 and 2023 surveys already point towards a broader assessment of what partners contribute plus more active management of their performance.
Lockstep gains ground
The strongest movement has been towards “lockstep style” approaches with a performance-related bonus.
The share of respondents in this group has risen from 28.6% in 2020 to 43.9% in 2026.
The proportion of firms describing themselves as ‘pure lockstep’ remains broadly stable at 24.6%, compared with 23.2% six years ago.
Over the same period, Eat What You Kill has declined from 19.6% to 13.2%, while black box arrangements have fallen from 10.7% to 5.3%.
The findings suggest the continuing move towards a wider definition of contribution – not only financial – bringing as it does the need for a trusted mechanism to oversee this.
Respondents’ views on the increasing importance of culture reinforce this: 42.0% now associate lockstep with a positive culture, up from 32.8% in 2020. From the firms describing themselves as pure Eat What You Kill, less than 5% described this as being positive for culture.
A broader definition of contribution
Despite the move towards recognising performance, the size of the bonus pool has barely moved. Among firms using a lockstep bonus, the average proportion of profit allocated through it was 29.3% in 2020, 29.3% in 2023 and 28.8% in 2026.
What has changed is how that money is allocated. Among firms using a bonus, 72.9% now combine financial and non-financial criteria, compared with 56.0% in 2020. Purely financial assessment has fallen from 36.0% to 22.9%.
More firms are therefore assessing a wider range of contributions and also aligning bonus payments more closely to high versus low performance.
Continued move from automatic progression
Among respondents describing their arrangements as lockstep, automatic progression based on service has fallen from 35.5% to 25.3%. Annual financial and non-financial requirements have risen from 12.9% to 34.7%.
Equity partner appraisal has also become much more established. The proportion reporting an appraisal system has increased from 22.5% in 2020 to 65.5% in 2026. Reported use of the power to reduce remuneration has risen from 49.3% to 59.5%.
Together, these findings suggest that more firms are making partner expectations explicit and taking performance seriously. The 2023 research pointed to increasing performance guardrails, although law firm leaders were more reticent to apply them.
Clearer rules require credible judgement
More firms are allowing for contributions beyond financial results: 72.9% of respondents using a bonus now combine financial and non-financial criteria, compared with 56.0% in 2020.
Assessing this work inevitably requires better data collection and systems for recording what partners have contributed. Committees also face greater responsibility for explaining how they have weighed that evidence alongside financial results when deciding each partner’s share of profit.
More firms are seeking feedback on partners. Use of peer, junior or 360-degree feedback has risen from 46.9% to 53.8%, leaving almost half of respondents without it.
AI exposes the next difficulty
More respondents favour rewarding partners for helping the firm adopt AI than report including that work in partner appraisal.
Specifically, 55.3% believe remuneration should recognise contribution to the AI transition or AI-enabled assets. Only 27.4% report that appraisals already consider innovation, AI adoption and improved service delivery.
The figures suggest that formal assessment has yet to catch up with respondents’ views about what deserves recognition.
The research is ongoing, and we welcome further participation from law firms through survey link. All responses are anonymous, and participating firms will receive an executive summary of the findings.
