The fact that large law firms are owned and controlled by groups of
partners rather than individuals leads to many management challenges
and problems such as difficulties in reaching decisions and arguments over
compensation.  I would like to find a few online sources that discuss
the problems that arise.  Ideally, they should be backed by some sort
of survey or data.  If that's not possible, they should come from a
reputable academic or industry source.

I would like at least 3 URLs of reputable sources that discuss this issue.

In responce to your question their is no one set of fact based answers.
I have worked in this countries law offices for over twenty five years
and the best that I can tell you is that it is deffrent in every firm.
 This is due to the type of law that the owners of the firm perfer to
claim as their largest profit maker and cheapest to litigate.

I work at one of the largest law firms in the U.S.  A good source for
info. on law firm management is Law Firm Inc. magazine
(http://lawfirminc.law.com/).  It's name is a bit tounge-in-cheek. 
Law firms in the U.S. are not incorporated, but the name seems to
suggest that they should be run similarly to a corporation.

Yikes!  In my comment, "It's" should be "Its".