Law Firm Partner Voting

Law firms ask partners to submit votes for several reasons, from equity partner promotions to mergers and practice acquisitions. Ensuring law firm partner elections and other ballots are secure, structured, and transparent is essential.

The key to encouraging full participation from partners and shareholders is convenience and clarity, providing partners with direct access to a voting system from any location. This approach ensures that the firm can reach a consensus on any issues or decisions, with full input from all voting partners.

An outdated law firm managing partner election process may mean partners are less inclined to vote, feel they have insufficient information to participate, or find it impossible to attend in-person voting via committee due to other obligations.

Reasons to Hold Formal Law Firm Votes

There are countless scenarios where law firms need to collate votes on decisions, opportunities, or courses of action. While partner voting on mergers in law firms is one such example, firms may also need to facilitate voting for:

• Proposed promotions or the creation of a new position
• Issues impacting law firm committees
• Decisions on compensation payments and retirement
• Voting on candidates for equity partnership
• Electing representatives to the board of directors

Law firms can also use customizable voting systems to reach a consensus from consultants, ensuring centralized management boards keep pace with trends and changing priorities even outside of the traditional partnership structure. Clarity around the weighting given to each vote, how votes will be collated and counted, and the rights of shareholders to veto, abstain, or request participation is important, ensuring partners have full oversight.

Combining In-Person and Virtual Law Firm Partner Voting

Law firms often hold conventional voting systems, such as asking partners to sign a physical ballot, tick a box on a paper voting form, or indicate their vote during a meeting by a show of hands or individual responses. The challenge for many is that law firms increasingly operate across states or countries and may have partners in multiple jurisdictions. Others may find that voting systems are less effective since partners may not have the time to travel to attend a committee meeting.

Online voting and digital ballots can improve participation and be used within a hybrid voting structure to ensure all partners have the opportunity to submit a valid, verified vote–whichever method proves most convenient. A similar resolution can be applied to partner and committee meetings, where attendees often submit votes on agenda items or proposed motions. Adding the option of an anonymous vote, where partners can respond either during or after the meeting using user-friendly polling software, may be beneficial.

Choosing software with the functionality and customization tools necessary to introduce variable confidentiality protection is ideal, serving the needs of a law firm during both informal, formal, open, and private voting processes. Firms commonly use virtual meeting software to hold important consultations. Agile voting software can be updated in real time, collating the outcome of a vote against an agenda item there and then. Meeting chairs can then share the results through their screen for transparency.

Best Practice for Formal Law Firm Partner Votes

Where law firm partners are asked to submit a vote on a matter of importance, such as the election of a board member or a merger or acquisition, advance communication can make a significant difference to participation.

Partners need to know:

• When a forthcoming vote is taking place and the ways they can choose between to participate
• How they can submit their vote, through which platforms, and the time constraints that may apply
• The voting options, such as whether they have multiple potential answers or will be required to submit either a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response
• The procedure for the vote, including deadlines and vote weighting (sending reminders about the voting window often works well, prompting partners who have yet to cast their vote to do so)

Voting software can deliver several tools to assist, including live vote counting, shareable voting metrics, and issuing reminder notices, ensuring partners receive sufficient communication throughout. For example, partners who receive updates on votes submitted, aggregate outcomes thus far, and the time remaining may be more inclined to participate if they feel that the likely outcome does not represent their wishes–ensuring they recognize the importance of full participation from all partners.