In Search of Perfect Client Service

The Managing Partner of Morrison & Foerster, Keith Wetmore, is a fraternity brother.  Wettinger, as he was known at Northwestern in the the late 1970s, was a stellar President of the fraternity.  Because of our fraternal brotherhood, articles in which Keith is mentioned or quoted always catch my eye.  One gave me pause to think beyond the past, however.  Anyone following the profession knows starting salaries in major markets have climbed to $160,000.  Given the upward ripple, the bottom line hit for firms of any size is measured in the millions.  And I have written repeatedly that clients will pay the price for the increase, either in higher hourly rates or the sudden and mysterious need to spend more hours on the same matters.

So check this New York Lawyer article out (sub. req.).  In it, my friend Keith takes on the "who pays" issue directly.  From the article:

Morrison & Foerster Chairman Keith Wetmore said the costs of the $160,000 scale will be born internally — even if it comes from partners' profits.

"We will make a little less money this year," Wetmore said.

He also said his firm won't hike hours requirements or billing rates.

Its not that I don't believe Keith.  Its just that I can't fathom how he can pull it off--at least over the long run.  Given the pressures to report high earnings per partner for competitive reasons, the need to pay marketable partners at the market rate, and similar pressures, how can a partnership put itself in the position where it starts off several million dollars in the whole vis its competitors?  It wasn't as though Keith was infallible as President of the fraternity.  Maybe he just got it wrong here.  But if he can pull it off, more power to him.  I'll be watching--along with MoFo's clients.