In recent years, compensation at the nation’s largest law firms has been a fairly transparent matter. Above the Law reports enthusiastically—one could say obsessively—on associate compensation. Meanwhile, the American Lawyer releases one of the most closely watched metrics in the entire profession, “profits per partner,” in connection with its annual Am Law 100 and Am Law 200 rankings. But lately, the compensation picture has been getting murkier.

But, profit is a very good indicator of good strong management and client satisfaction too.

Dentons created a stir this spring when it announced its decision not to share its profit-per-partner numbers with the American Lawyer. On the associate front, increasingly complex and non-public bonus systems are making associate compensation harder to nail down at any given firm. Some firms, like Jones Day, have moved even their base compensation for associates into a “black box,” away from public view.

Whether or not you believe this incipient trend away from transparency is a bad thing probably depends on where you sit. Many have questioned whether Dentons’s reason for withholding its information could be called “legitimate.” (The fact that it distributed a press release earlier in the year announcing a 4.8% increase in its U.S. PPP gives them some reason to do so.) In defending its decision, however, Dentons also raised some points worth considering, including this one:

[Global CEO Elliott] Portnoy and [global chair Joe] Andrew argue that the PEP figures say “nothing about the success of a firm” and may lead to client dissatisfaction. Andrew elaborated on the latter point in an interview with Legal Week. “From a client perspective,” he said, “they see our profitability as services that aren’t invested into further support for them.”

For the record, Dentons claims that its decision has been very well received by clients, which might be how the clients see Dentons. But, profit is a very good indicator of good strong management and client satisfaction too (just ask Wachtell). And in contrast to opacity, transparency, from where we sit, is good for the soul.