An equity partner owns part of a law firm and is paid from its profits.
A non-equity partner — also called an income or salaried partner — holds the partner title without an ownership stake and is paid a salary.
Ownership, voting, capital, pay and risk all split along that line, and this page maps each.
What an equity partner owns
An equity partner is the ownership tier of a law firm.
A partner at this level holds an equity stake — a share of the firm itself — and that stake carries the two things people mean by "making partner": a portion of the firm's profits and, typically, a voice in the firm's decisions, from budgets and leadership to who else is invited into the partnership.
Ownership is also what the tier costs and risks.
The stake sits in the firm, and income arrives as profit distributions rather than a salary an employer sets — so it moves with the firm's results instead of arriving on a fixed schedule.
The capital, draws and exit terms behind that money are covered in the pay sections below.
The tier is distinct enough that NALP, whose diversity reports track law firm demographics, reports on "multi-tier" firms — firms with more than one partner tier — and found that at those firms, the share of partners holding equity fell from 61.3% in 2011 to 56.3% in 2024.
For where this tier sits in the wider ladder, see our law firm partner guide.
What non-equity (income/salaried) partners are
A non-equity partner holds the partner title without an ownership share.
Firms also label the tier income partner or salaried partner, and both names describe the economics: pay arrives as a set salary rather than as a distribution of profits.
On the org chart the title reads like any other partner's; in the firm's economics, the tier sits on the salary side of the ownership line.
The tier is how a firm recognizes partner-level seniority — running client relationships, supervising associates, carrying responsibility for matters — without extending equity and the profit share, and typically the vote, that come with it.
What the title does not carry is an ownership share in the profits; whether a bonus, a capital requirement or any other variable term comes with the tier is set firm by firm, so read the offer.
Titles vary firm by firm, so read them carefully.
"Partner" on a bio or a signature block does not tell you which tier it is; the terms of the role do.
When you evaluate a partner offer, the question that separates the tiers is whether it includes equity — an ownership share with profit participation — or a salary with the partner title.
Pay structure differences: salary vs profit share
The pay difference is the tier difference: a non-equity partner earns a salary the firm sets, while an equity partner is paid out of the firm's profits through distributions of their ownership share.
How a firm divides those profits — lockstep, a production formula, committee-set numbers, draws and true-ups — is its compensation model, and the partner compensation models guide covers each design and its trade-offs.
Moving from non-equity to equity
The step from the non-equity tier to the equity tier is a conversion the firm controls: the existing owners typically decide when to add a new one.
Our research found no primary-source data on how long the step takes or how often firms grant it, so the only numbers that matter are your firm's — and those come from the people who hold the votes.
Adding an equity partner means adding an owner, so the case you build is an economic one.
The concrete questions to put to firm leadership: what does equity require here — a capital contribution, a client base you hold, a profitability bar, seniority?
How is conversion timed against the partner track, and what does the offer look like when it comes: the stake, the buy-in terms, the draw schedule?
Is non-equity partner a real promotion?
It is a real tier — NALP counts it separately at multi-tier firms — but it is a promotion in title and salary, not an ownership event.
The partner title changes how clients and the market read you; the economics stay on the salary side of the line until equity is granted.
Who actually holds equity is measurable, and it is not distributed evenly across the partner tiers: at multi-tier firms in 2024, nearly 60% of men partners were equity partners, versus 48% of women partners and 47% of partners of color.
At multi-tier firms, women were 26.5% of equity partners in 2025 — an all-time high.
The honest answer, then: the non-equity title is worth having when you want partner-level standing, and worth negotiating from when you want ownership.
Ask at offer stage which tier the role sits in, and what the firm's path from that tier to equity has been.
Where to find law firm partner jobs
Open partner roles are listed on the law firm partner job board.
Read each listing's seniority language carefully: postings that say "equity partner" or "income partner" are telling you the tier, and tier language you cannot find is a question for the first interview, not the last.
Partner searches are also where compensation questions surface earliest, because a role that looks like a title bump may be a tier change.
Settle the equity question before you compare offers on title alone.
Definitions
- Equity partner — a partner who holds an ownership share in the firm, participates in its profits, and typically has a vote on firm decisions.
- Non-equity partner — a partner who holds the title without an ownership share; paid a salary the firm sets.
- Income partner / salaried partner — alternative names for the non-equity tier, describing its salary-based pay.
- Multi-tier firm — a firm with more than one partner tier; NALP's diversity reports break equity partners out separately at these firms.
- Capital contribution — money a partner puts into the firm to fund an ownership stake; the buy-in.
- Profit distribution — a payment of the firm's profits to an owner; the channel equity pay flows through.
How each is paid
A non-equity partner's salary is an amount the firm sets in advance; whether it comes with a bonus or other variable pay is one of the firm's own terms.
An equity partner's income is the firm's computation of their profit share, paid through the firm's distribution mechanics.
The first is agreed before the year starts; the second moves with the firm's results, which is both the upside and the risk of holding equity.
If you go looking for national numbers on either tier, one federal caveat applies: BLS wage estimates for lawyers exclude self-employed lawyers and owners and partners of unincorporated businesses, so no BLS figure describes what partners take home.
Our partner salary data page carries the BLS lawyer series — read it as the market around partnership, not partnership income.
No verified figure exists for the equity vs non-equity pay gap
Capital contribution and risk
A capital contribution is the ownership tier's price of admission where firms require one: money a partner puts into the firm to fund the stake — the buy-in.
The amount, the financing and what happens to it on exit are the firm's own terms.
Our research found no verified range for contributions, and the figures that circulate online come from Am Law/consultant surveys and blogs and are unsourced, so the only number worth modeling is the one the firm writes into its own offer.
Risk runs in the same direction as the upside.
A salary survives a weak year at the number it was set; a profit share does not — it is the firm's results, divided.
Capital sits in the firm too, and what happens to a contribution when a partner leaves or a firm winds down is governed by the firm's own agreements.
None of that makes equity a bad deal by definition; it makes the terms the diligence.
Tax treatment
How each tier's pay is taxed depends on the firm's legal structure, the state it practices in, and your own circumstances.
Our research found no primary source quantifying the tax difference between the tiers, so this page does not state one — and any general answer you read elsewhere deserves the same skepticism.
The questions to take to a tax professional: how the firm reports each tier's pay, what the firm's entity structure changes, and what the answers mean for your situation.
Career information, not legal or tax advice. Tier structure, pay, capital and tax terms are set firm by firm — confirm the specifics with the firm's own agreements and a tax professional before you act on them.