Associates at Husch Blackwell Sanders develop their skills and progress toward partnership through a competency-based Level System, first implemented in 2001.

Nearly a decade of effort has been invested in our Associate Level System, which is now being modeled by other law firms across the country. We believe that our Level System is a significant improvement over the old lockstep approach.

What was wrong with Lockstep?

In the traditional lockstep system, associates join law firms in classes and progress by class and by calendar year toward partnership eligibility. In a lockstep system, two associates who joined a firm in the same year are “locked in” to the same base compensation and the same pace of advancement, regardless of their respective skills and performance. Thus, compensation and advancement toward partnership do not account for an individual’s effort, skills, value, or performance. In other words, lockstep is inflexible. It fails to reward those who progress in skills and performance at a faster pace, and it does not accommodate those who “bloom” a little later.

Also, lockstep offers only one guarantee to associates – that they will not be eligible for partnership until a fixed number of years pass, regardless of their skills, performance, or value.

How does the Level System work?

Our Level System has three associate levels: Career Levels 1 through 3. We have determined what expectations we have of associates in each of the three levels, and these competencies are defined and available to every associate. Each competency area (for example, “Written Communication,” “Entrepreneurial Creativity and Flexibility,” or “Teamwork, Cooperation, and Inclusiveness”) has expectations defined differently by career level, so that associates can clearly understand the rising expectations as they progress in their careers.

Associates also have their Department’s skills guidelines, which detail the specific skills and experiences that associates in the Department or practice group should seek to acquire in each of the three levels. As a result, each associate has a roadmap of what is expected of him or her each step of the way toward partnership.

In the Level System, how do I know where I stand?

Associates’ performance is formally evaluated twice a year by all lawyers for whom they work, not just partners. The evaluation forms vary between career levels, because the expectations differ depending upon the associate’s level. Associates take the lead themselves in keeping track of how they are progressing against their Department or practice group’s skills guidelines.

The Spring Review and Fall Review meetings involve the individual associates and their Department leaders or designates. The Spring Review focuses on career development, and the associate takes the lead in preparing a professional development plan, which is then discussed and agreed upon with the Department or practice group leader. That plan is a roadmap for what the associate and the Firm will do over the next 12 months to develop the associate’s career.

How am I compensated, and how am I promoted toward partnership?

Base compensation for associates is in bands tied to the three levels. While associates who remain in a given level for more than a year can receive a salary increase, the significant compensation increases generally occur when an associate is promoted from one level to the next. Level promotions and salary increases occur in the Fall.

Associates are promoted to the next career level when their performance and growth in competencies indicate they are ready, as determined by their Division and Department leadership. And our billing rates are tied to the career levels, not associate tenure, which reflects how firmly we are committed to, and invested in, our associates’ career development.

Under the Level System, associates progress toward partnership based upon their skills and performance, not by how many consecutive years they have worked here.

The Firm pays bonuses at year-end as a reward for such matters as productivity and extraordinary performance. But under the Level System, growth in skills and competencies is generally rewarded, not with a one-time bonus, but with compensation raises and promotions toward partnership.

Will I get the guidance and support I need to develop my skills?

Switching from lockstep to a Level System was akin to turning off the auto-pilot on associate management. Partners, and in particular our Department and practice group leaders, play a direct, active, and engaged role in associate career development. Approximately 2,000 evaluation forms are filled out in each of our semiannual reviews, and Department and practice group leaders meet on an individual basis with associates to discuss the associates’ performance, experiences, skills development, and careers.

The Firm remains committed to providing superior professional development programming, resources, and mentoring. We work hard to provide training and resources that dovetail directly, in timing and content, to the skills associates need to progress and succeed in their careers.

To help make sure our partners are providing the right kind of support and guidance, associates across the Firm evaluate our partners each year on supervision, training, and other aspects of partner performance that are crucial to associate career development. This evaluation occurs after the Fall Associate Reviews are completed and directly before decisions are made on partner compensation for the coming year.