Partnership Aspirations Dashed as Firm Introduces Additional “Pre-Partnership” Titles

 12 May 2026

HOBART- A boutique commercial law firm has introduced a new seniority classification immediately below partner, citing the need to recognise associate progression. 

The new title, Managing Counsel, was announced on Tuesday by managing partner Richard Hollis, who described the initiative as “a meaningful structural investment in the firm’s talent architecture.” 

The meeting was attended by eleven people. 

The firm previously introduced Special Counsel in 2019, a title Hollis described at the time as “a meaningful structural investment in the firm’s talent architecture.” Managing Associate was added in 2021, described on that occasion as “a meaningful structural investment in the firm’s talent architecture.” 

Marcus Webb, a senior associate who joined the firm eleven years ago on the understanding that partnership was usually offered at seven to nine years, said he welcomed the clarity. 

“It’s good to have a roadmap,” Webb said. 

Webb is currently classified as Special Counsel. He expects to reach Senior Special Counsel within two to three years, subject to performance review, market conditions, and what Hollis described as “strategic headcount calibration.”  “After that,” Webb said, “Managing Associate.” 

He paused. 

“Then Managing Counsel.” 

He paused again. 

“And then we’ll see.” 

What Webb has since learned is that Managing Counsel is not partnership. Nor is Fixed Draw Partner, a classification introduced in 2022 that carries the title of partner without equity, profit share, or voting rights. Industry observers refer to Fixed Draw Partners as PINOs, Partners In Name Only. 

“We don’t use that term,” Hollis said. 

Equity partnership at the firm requires a capital contribution of between $400,000 and $750,000, depending on practice group. Equity partners purchase their interest in the firm at a valuation that includes the goodwill of the practice. 

Associates spend the preceding decade building that goodwill. 

“You spend ten years developing your clients, your relationships, your reputation,” said one former senior associate who left the firm in 2023. “Then they invite you to buy it back.” 

She said she had declined. 

The firm’s three equity partners declined to comment. All three have undertaken significant home renovations in recent years. Two own investment properties. One keeps a boat at the Kettering marina. 

Hollis said the structure reflected standard professional services practice. 

“Ownership creates alignment,” he said. 

The firm’s graduate recruitment materials have been updated. The section previously titled “Partnership Pathway” now reads “Partnership Ecosystem.” A timeline graphic that formerly showed a seven-year arc to partnership has been replaced with a diagram described in the materials as “illustrative and non-binding.” 

A junior associate said she had joined three years ago after being told partnership was “absolutely achievable” within a decade. 

“That’s still the case,” she said. “The pathway is just more detailed now.” 

The firm has not admitted a new equity partner in four years. Hollis described the period as “a considered pause.” 

“Partnership is not a destination,” he said. “It’s a philosophy.” 

At press time, the firm was understood to be developing a further intermediate title following feedback that Managing Counsel created unrealistic expectations about proximity to partnership. 

Satire is not a destination. It’s a philosophy. Any resemblance to real firms is illustrative and non-binding.