Aon | Professional Services Practice
Is Your Law Firm Benefits Strategy Keeping Up with the Increasing Number of Non-Equity Partners?
Release Date: May 2026The Professional Services Practice at Aon recently conducted a survey of law firms on the differences in benefit design and offerings between equity and non-equity partners. The results of the survey are available below.
Key Takeaways
- Driven by business needs and career development opportunities, there has been
a significant increase in non-equity partners at law firms.
- Although law firms treat equity and non-equity partners similarly in certain benefit types, many differences remain in approach.
- Benchmarking against peers allows growing law firms to understand how benefit strategy can contribute to firm competitiveness.
The survey was conducted over a three-week period beginning in late March 2026 and primarily includes responses from Am Law 100 firms. The results reveal a profession still navigating where non-equity partners should sit on the benefits spectrum — closer to equity partners, closer to associates and counsel, or somewhere in between.
For life and disability benefits, firms are largely offering non-equity partners the same plans offered to equity partners. Nearly two-thirds provide non-equity partners with basic life and group long-term disability coverage on the same terms as equity partners and 86 percent have extended eligibility to Individual Disability Insurance programs to non-equity partners.
Medical plan contributions, however, tell a more divided story. While equity partners pay the full cost of coverage, only 45 percent of firms require this of non-equity partners, while 41 percent subsidize their premiums at the same level as non-partner lawyers. The remaining firms use salary-banded structures that land somewhere in the middle.
Retirement plans present the widest variation. Just over half of firms align non-equity partners with equity partners in their defined contribution plans, but only 35 percent of firms with cash balance plans make those plans available to non-equity partners.
These findings suggest that while the profession is moving toward greater consistency in certain areas, benefit strategy for non-equity partners remains highly firm-specific and shaped by role positioning, cost considerations, and internal equity.
As the number of non-equity partners grow, benchmarking against peer practices will be essential to staying competitive.
Please contact Jake Delman or Mark Scarafone if you would like a copy of the Aon 2026 U.S. Law Firm Non-Equity Partner Benefit Report.
Contact
For more information about benefit plan strategies, emerging human capital trends, and how Aon can help, please contact Jake Delman and Mark Scarafone.
Senior Consultant
Washington, DC
Senior Vice President and Health & Benefits Leader
Radnor, PA
About Aon
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