Fill and Sign the 041b Compensation Committee Information Form

5.04[1]b Compensation Committee Information Form Such a memorandum is valuable for making sure that the Compensation Committee compensation decision for each partner is an informed one and for assuring the partner that all information which he believes to be pertinent has been considered. A sample form that could be used to gather desired information might read as follows: COMPENSATION COMMITTEE INFORMATION FORM FOR: ________________________________________ (Name)We would like to know more about your contributions to the law firm. The comments you make will be helpful in making certain that you get full recognition for your efforts and accomplishments. This outline has been prepared to help you and contains some suggestions of matters you may want to comment on. Although the completion of this form is not mandatory, we would like to strongly urge each partner and of counsel to provide us with the kind of information elicited by this form. This information will be carefully considered by the compensation committee and it will allow us to better judge your performance for the year 20__ as well as improve the way the firm is managed. Please make every point you feel appropriate but try to be concise and to the point, but feel free to include as many additional sheets of paper as necessary to make your answers complete. If you feel strongly about using a different format, please do so. Also, you may give any information or suggestions elicited by this form anonymously by sending them in a sealed envelope marked "confidential" to (chair of compensation committee). If you are an "of counsel," answer the form by substituting your position for that of "partner" in the form. UNIQUE ACCOMPLISHMENTS. Each year most of us can point to a few accomplishments which stand out as special achievements for the year. Please list your special accomplishments during the year. We would particularly like you to list accomplishments which involve teamwork, cross selling, recruitment and retention of associates and laterals or cooperation with other firm members, or special efforts by you to advance the firm, a department, office, or practice group. We would also like for you to let us know your cost reduction efforts as well as your efforts to increase your billable rate and the billable rates of the associates in your group. ________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE INVOLVEMENT. The work of the management committee is critical to our success. Please comment on your efforts to cooperate with the management committee. Please include specific information with respect to your time entry, billing and collection efforts to help our firm meet it's financial goals. Have you been timely in these efforts? Also, please let us know if you have used our accounting staff to help you in your collection efforts. Please comment specifically on your ability throughout the year to meet the time entry, billing and collection deadlines. If you are a member of the management committee, please comment on the cooperation you have received from your fellow shareholders. Please let us know those partners and of counsels that have exceeded expectations as well as those that have under performed and why. ________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ INVOLVEMENT WITH ASSOCIATES. Our ability to hire, retain and motivate our associates is essential for our firm to be successful. Please comment on your specific personal efforts to mentor, train, socialize with and review our associates. Please describe any activity undertaken by you to make associates part of our firm. Please list the name or names of any associate that you mentor and your specific mentoring activities with respect to that individual. Do you know the goals and aspirations of your associates? What are you doing specifically to help them achieve their career goals? ________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ NATIONAL PRACTICE GROUPS. To truly leverage our resources to compete effectively on a national basis, we must have highly successful national practice groups consistent with our culture. Please comment on your efforts to participate in our national practice groups. Give us your comments on how to improve the effectiveness of our national practice groups and let us know if you believe that we should consider additional national practice groups and why. (This may involve a more narrow national practice group in an area in which we now have a national practice group.) If you are a practice group coordinator, please comment on any significant involvement by a fellow partner in your national practice group. ________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ RECRUITMENT. Our long term success requires that we attract the very best talent to our firm. Generally, our best and most cost-effective referrals come not from head hunters, but from the members of the firm. Please comment on any specific efforts by you to bring new lateral partners, associates, of-counsel and consultants to the firm. Please list the names of any individuals that were suggested by you and hired by the firm. ________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ QUALITY CLIENT RELATIONS AND SERVICE. Describe your special efforts and success during the year in helping the firm to maintain and improve important client relationships and improve business from existing firm clients by providing outstanding service and relationship management. CLIENTDESCRIPTION OF SUCCESS ________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ TIMEKEEPER REVENUE PRODUCTION. For work performed by you as a timekeeper, provide any meaningful comment about the firms revenue from your personal work and your billable hour production, billings and collections. ________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ STATISTICS. (See your personal summary financial information which will be provided to you shortly.) COMMENTS. ________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ BILLING ATTORNEY PERFORMANCE. Provide any information which you think will be helpful in evaluating your performance as a billing attorney generally and your collection percentage specifically. Please comment on your UBT and A/R aging, your inventory days, collection rate and your contributions to firm profitability through wise engagement management, and/or control of billings, accounts receivables, work in process, and other financial matters, including cost control. If you have had any significant write-offs, please comment on the reason and steps taken to avoid similar problems in the future. ________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND ORIGINATIONS. Describe in general terms your activities and successes in originating or helping to originate profitable new business from new or existing clients of the firm. Particularly refer to any cooperative efforts you participated in with others in the firm to originate new business for the firm. Consider mentioning activities in the following categories:A. Direct marketing B. Cross selling C. Speeches-seminars D. Alerts-newsletters E. Building relationships F. Socializing G. National practice groups H. Presentations I. Group presentations J. Marketing training With respect to each matter in your origination report that has one or more individuals appearing as co-originators on a particular matter, you may wish to refer to the matter by name and client number and let us know your involvement in originating the matter as well as any other person that you believe deserves credit for such origination. You may accomplish this if you wish, by making a copy of the origination report, making your comments next to the matter and forwarding the marked origination report with this form. ________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ EXPERTISE. Describe any areas of unusual and advanced expertise that you have that the firm has called upon to service it's clients and develop new business. ________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL IMPROVEMENT. Please discuss what you believe to be your most important personal or professional improvements this year. Some of the areas you might mention are: Improvement in mentoring associates and others Advancing our culture Recruiting Pro bono activities Community involvement Improvement in billing and collections Improvement in the intake of matters Increase in technical knowledge or skill Implementation of cost savings Implementation of service improvements Client counseling and counseling skills Supervisory and management skills Leadership skills Relationships within the firm Alternative billing methods ________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ GOOD CITIZENSHIP-COOPERATIVE EFFORTS. We believe that cooperation among lawyers, departments, practice groups and offices in marketing and delivery of quality legal services are extremely important. Please describe how you have been successful in developing this cooperation. Please give any examples which you think will be meaningful. The following list of possibilities might be helpful: Cooperation in the management of your department or office Coached others Teamwork Transferred my skill to others Example setting/cheerleading Learned and used good techniques used by others Listening Brought in work for others to work on Successfully cross sold other members of the firm to clients Made intellectual/technical contributions used by others Honesty, fairness, creativity, innovation Positive attitude and being positive to changes Helped others to grow Promotion of good feelings about the firm ________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ COMMUNITY AND PRO BONO INVOLVEMENT. Please describe your community (charitable, pro bono, bar, civic, trade organizations, etc.) Involvement and accomplishments during the past year and your plans for the coming year. Please note the hours devoted to these activities. Try to relate how these activities, in addition to being a service to the community, have or will benefit the firm by increasing its business. ORGANIZATION AND OFFICE HELD ACTIVITIES AND BENEFIT AND HOURS SPENT ________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ FIRM MANAGEMENT. Please list the significant contributions you have made to firm management and activities and the amount of time you have devoted to that effort. Some of the items that you should consider listing are significant activities in the following areas:A. Recruiting B. National or local practice groups C. Training of others D. New business intake E. Political giving F. Formal associate mentor program G. Charitable giving H. Associates committee I. Technology committee J. Finance committee K. Paralegal committee L. Office management M. Assisting our general counsel ________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ GOAL SETTING. Please describe the formal or informal goal setting that you have done this year and your goals for next year (20__). 20__ GOALS Billable Hours ____________ HoursBilling Rate From $___________ to $____________ Origination $____________ Timekeeper Income $____________ Timekeeper Collection % ____________% Billing Attorney Collection % ____________% Days of Inventory (Accounts receivable and unbilled time) _____ Associate Mentoring ____________ Hours Recruiting ____________ HoursNational Practice Group ____________ Hours Firm and/or Office Management ____________ Hours Marketing ____________ Hours Other (Political, Pro Bono, Community, etc.) ____________ Hours OTHER GOALS ________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ OWNERSHIP OF OUR FIRM. Do you consider yourself an "owner" of our firm? Please give us the reasons why you feel you are an "owner" or what it would take to make you believe that you are truly an "owner" of your firm. ________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ YOUR CHANCE TO MANAGE. If you were the managing partner of the firm, what would you do differently that you believe would improve our firm? Please let include the potential positive as well as the negative factors that the managing partner should consider in making such change. Just as importantly, what would you make sure we continue to do as a firm that we are now doing? Please answer these questions under the assumption that you are responsible for the management of your office, department and/or national practice group. ________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ COMMENTS ABOUT OTHERS. Please give any comments about others in the firm you believe will be meaningful. Although we try to focus on each of our positive accomplishments, please also give other confidential comments about others in the firm who you feel need substantial improvement in some important area or are not a good example of the firm spirit of cooperation or of our culture. ________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ SUGGESTIONS FOR FIRM IMPROVEMENT. Please give any suggestions you may have for improvement of the firm. You may give any of these suggestions anonymously if you wish by sending them in a sealed envelope marked "confidential" to (the Chair of the Compensation Committee. Some of the areas that you might like to comment on are: A. Firm and office management B. Business staff1. Accounting 2. Administrative services 3. Finance 4. Human resources 5. Legal systems 6. Library/research center 7. Marketing and client services 8. M.I.S. 9. Office managers 10. Office services 11. Records management 12. Recruitment 13. Training 14. Word processing C. Secretarial, word processing, and paralegal staff D. Accounting - billing systems and staff E. Facilities and systems F. Shareholder communications and meetings G. Compensation policies and procedures H. Firm's direction I. Communications J. Associates programs K. Training programs L. Marketing programs M. Growth N. New offices O. International offices P. New practice areas Q. Office of the general counsel of the firm ________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ SUGGESTIONS-BILLING RATES. Please give suggestions about your billing rate or the rate of others (above those presently in effect). TIMEKEEPER RATE OR RATES SUGGESTED COMMENTS________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ General comments about billing and alternative billing methods, if any. ________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ ANYTHING ELSE? Use this item to communicate anything else you would like to say including any comments on your past, present or future compensation. ________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________