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S2 | MONDAY, APRIL 24, 2017 | Partnership
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Partner Promotions Dip At New York’s Largest Firms
BY MEGHAN TRIBE
Many law firms eased back on partner promotions last year, but the slowdown was less pronounced in New York—especially in corporate practices.
Amid slack demand for legal services nationwide in 2016 and an uncertain eco- nomic climate, the 25 law rms employing the largest number of lawyers in the state as ranked by the NYLJ 100 elevated 308 attorneys to partnership. That marks a 14 percent drop from the last round, when the group elevated 353 lawyers to partnership.
Firms did not generally indicate whether the promotions were equity or non-equity, but according to National Law Journal data, about 15 of the 25 rms have non-equity and equity tiers.
Law rm consultant Brad Hildebrandt of Hildebrandt Consulting said it would be a mistake to read too much into the decreases. “It’s not a big difference really,” he said of the year-over-year statistics.
Given attrition rates and a limited talent pool, the rms know it’s important to promote from within, Hildebrandt said.
“I think they’re trying to give a stronger mes- sage to their younger people that there is a career path, that partnership is not closed,” Hildebrandt said. “It’s smart for the law rms to be bringing talent up where it has spent an enor- mous amount on training and development.”
As in years past, the New York rms’ part- nership classes were dominated by corpo- rate practice groups, followed by litigation. “Corporate and nance and regulatory [work] is what has actually produced a lot of the pro tability [in New York], so it wouldn’t be surprising to see a rm try to build that,” Hildebrandt said.
Three of the four promotions at Cahill Gor- don & Reindel were in corporate practices, as were 20 of the 41 rmwide promotions at White & Case, for example.
At Latham & Watkins, 16 of 27 partner pro- motions rmwide were in corporate. In its New York of ce, all of its elevated attorneys were on the transactional side of the rm.
“It’s really just a function of who comes up through the ranks and is in the promo- tion class,” said Michèle Penzer, managing partner of Latham’s New York of ce. “This year in particular it happened to be heavily weighted towards transactional.”
Ups and (Mostly) Downs
Ropes & Gray promoted 9 attorneys to partner rmwide in 2016, compared to 17 the year before. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom elevated 11 attorneys rmwide and six in New York in April 2016, down from 15 nationally and seven in New York in its 2015 round of promotions.
Sidley Austin promoted 16 attorneys across its of ces, down from 24 in its previous class. Kirkland & Ellis, which had the largest part- nership class, promoted 81 attorneys rm- wide, compared to 90 the year prior.
The drop wasn’t as substantial in the rms’ New York of ces. The top 25 law rms ele- vated 115 lawyers to partner in New York, compared to 124 the year prior. Ten of the top 25 New York rms surveyed increased their partnership ranks in the city.
Davis Polk & Wardwell, which promoted 11 attorneys rmwide to partnership, elevated nine attorneys in New York, up from four the year prior. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher elevated 13 attorneys rmwide and four in New York, up from eight rmwide and two in New York the year prior.
Schulte Roth & Zabel, which made no part- nership promotions in New York in 2016, made four rmwide in New York in its most recent round of promotions.
Still, most rms had an overall decrease in the number of attorneys elevated to partner- ship in New York.
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
promoted three lawyers to partnership in New York, compared to six the year prior. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson cut its New York partnership class in half, elevat- ing four attorneys.
Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker promoted three attorneys in New York and Willkie Farr & Gallagher elevated two, down from nine and ve, respectively. And Sullivan & Cromwell only made one partner promotion in its New York of ce, down from ve in the previous round.
Gender Imbalance
As the number of promotions fell across the New York rms, the number of women promoted also decreased.
In 2014, 24 percent of new partners at the 25 law rms were women. In 2015, that number increased to 32 percent. Last year, 27 percent of the new partners were women, accounting for 84 out of the 308 partners elevated.
“I would hope to see the numbers increase year to year, but you recognize that there are going to be uctuations,” law rm consultant Melissa McClenaghan Martin said.
All of Cravath, Swaine & Moore’s three partner advancements were women in 2016. Women made up nearly half or more of the new partner class at four rms. Two of Willkie Farr’s three new partners are women; three of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy’s ve new partners are women; and 16 of White & Case’s 41 new partners are also women.
In contrast, Paul Weiss, Sullivan & Crom- well, and Shearman & Sterling elevated no women to partnership last year. Six of the 25 rms surveyed only promoted one woman in the partnership class.
Contact Meghan Tribe at [email protected]. On Twitter: @TribeMeghan
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