Unless you are practicing as a solo lawyer, you most likely have a partnership agreement that you drafted a while ago and then put in a filing cabinet to be forgotten. But having a solid partnership agreement, just like having a well-drafted law firm business plan, can help keep your practice on track and help set goals for your firm. Possibly more important, a well-drafted partnership agreement also serves as a blueprint for firm management and partner conduct that can save you countless hours of stress.
In my law practice management classes, I tell students to think of a law partnership agreement as they would a prenuptial agreement. When you decide to form a partnership with other lawyers—whether you are straight out of school or seeking a change of work mid-career—you are probably doing so because you like your potential partners, feel you will work well together and believe that the outcome of working together will add up to more than the sum of your individual contributions.