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&lt;p&gt;As more law firms replace lockstep salaries with merit-based systems, associates worry about both the loss of transparency (the &amp;ldquo;black box&amp;rdquo; system reportedly adopted by Winston &amp;amp; Strawn has upset more than a few insiders) and the loss of income (many see the new structures as &amp;ldquo;one more way for firms to cut associate pay&amp;rdquo;). Still, some&amp;nbsp;argue that it&amp;rsquo;s only the &amp;ldquo;slackers&amp;rdquo; who will be hurt by a shift to performance-based pay.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;But associate pay isn&amp;rsquo;t the only target of BigLaw restructuring, with large global firms like Linklaters and Reed Smith also &amp;ldquo;realigning&amp;rdquo; their partnership tiers. An Altman Weil consultant has predicted that &amp;ldquo;coasting&amp;rdquo; won&#39;t cut it any more, as&amp;nbsp;more &amp;ldquo;non-producers&amp;rdquo; will be shed from the partner ranks in 2010 as firms &amp;ldquo;make room for young blood.&amp;rdquo; But those eager aspirants will have a tougher climb than partners of yore. The &lt;em&gt;Fulton County Daily Report&lt;/em&gt; article cites the &amp;ldquo;new mantra&amp;rdquo; making the rounds among consultants and firm leaders: &amp;ldquo;the bar for making partner is being raised.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;- posted by vera&lt;/p&gt;

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