Most law firms made up of more than one character are set up as a hierarchy with Partners at the top and ranging levels of Associate Attorneys underneath them. Partners are usually the proprietors of the commercial enterprise, and Associates are personal. The Associates are often given the possibility to paintings their way up the ladder to grow to be Partners and proportion within the firm’s income rather than just receiving wages.
It is vital to have a written agreement or contract among the Associates and the Firm that spells out everybody’s responsibilities and obligations and the situations below which they may improve. The following is a draft agreement between an Associate and a regulation company that can be customized to satisfy the desires of a regulation firm hiring an Associate Attorney. This AGREEMENT fabricated from this twenty-first day of March 2011, among the Law Offices of at Smith, herein called the “Firm” and Joe Blow from now on called the “Attorney.”
Recitals
The Firm is a Sole Proprietorship, running as a commercial enterprise rendering legal offerings. If the Firm changes to any other shape of retail enterprise employer in the term of this settlement, this settlement will stay binding on both the Firm, underneath it is a new formation, and on the Attorney. The Attorney is certified to practice regulation inside the State of Texas. The Firm and the Attorney choice to have the lawyer exercise regulation as an employee of the Firm. It is agreed by using and among the events as follows:
Section 1. Employment and Duties.
Employment. The Firm employs the Attorney, and the Attorney accepts employment as a lawyer according to the terms of this Agreement. Full Time. The Attorney shall commit complete running time and interest on the practice of the law for the Firm, and the Attorney shall not, without the written consent of the Firm, at once or not directly rendered services of a expert nature to or for any character or firm except as an employee of the Firm.
Duties and Assignments. The Firm shall determine the duties to be carried out via the Attorney and the manner and how those obligations shall be carried out. The Firm shall determine the assignment of the customers to the Attorney, and the Attorney shall perform offerings for such clients assigned. The Firm determines the prices at which the Attorney’s paintings will be billed.
Section 2. Compensation
Salary. For all services rendered through the Attorney under this Agreement, the Firm shall pay the Attorney an annual revenue of $58,000, payable weekly or as may additionally in any other case be together agreed. The profits can be changed through the mutual settlement of the parties at any time.
Bonus. In addition to the profits specified in 2.1., the Attorney can also obtain an advantage. The bonus, if any, will be in such amounts as the Firm may additionally decide at its absolute discretion. Additional Compensation. In addition to the revenue and bonus laid out in gadgets 2.1 and a pair of.2, the Attorney could be eligible to get hold of a percent of the Firm’s portion of Personal Injury instances. The Attorney will get hold of 10% of the Firm’s payment from a Personal Injury case, whilst the Attorney has achieved because of the primary legal professional on that case. Additionally, the Attorney will acquire 10% of the Firm’s fee from a Personal Injury case, while the Attorney, for my part, delivered the case to the Firm.
Section 3. Partnership.
It is the policy of the Firm to appoint as legal professionals persons who will be allowed to grow to be partners in the Firm. After a sure wide variety of years, the Firm will make the dedication as to whether or not the Attorney can be admitted to partnership. The Firm expects to make this determination with recognition to this Attorney, no earlier than July 1, 2005, and no later than July 1, 2007.
Section 4. Facilities.
Office. The Firm shall grant the Attorney with workplace space, workforce help, and such different centers and services as are fairly necessary to the overall performance of the Attorney’s obligations. Liability Insurance. The Firm shall keep expert liability coverage overlaying the acts and omissions of the Attorney in the overall performance of the Attorney’s professional duties.
