New Partner Watch: Incoming Partner Classes at 10 Top Firms

6. Weil Gotshal & Manges: Last year constituted a wild ride for Weil Gotshal. The firm experienced some high-profile partner defections, especially in Texas, but it made up for them by making up nine new partners. We discussed the news previously over here.

7. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett: After naming a relatively small class of 4 partners last year, STB named a whopping 10 new partners this time around:

Atif Azher (Corporate – Palo Alto)
Jason M. Bussey (Litigation – Palo Alto)
Jonathan Goldstein (Tax – New York)
Karen Hsu Kelley (Corporate – New York)
Andrew Lacy (Litigation – Washington, D.C.)
Edgar J. Lewandowski (Corporate – New York)
Christopher R. May (Corporate – Houston)
Krista Miniutti (Real Estate – New York)
Anthony F. Vernace (Corporate – New York)
Craig S. Waldman (Litigation – New York)

The firm made up for last year’s dearth of litigation partners with 3 new ones this time. Last year the firm named no women partners; this year is better, but not by much (2 out of 10). There’s a strong emphasis on STB’s New York mother ship, with 6 out of 10 hailing from the Big Apple.

8. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton: Congratulations to the firm’s 6 new partners:

Matteo Beretta — Milan/Rome — European Law/Antitrust
Christopher Cook — Brussels — International Competition/Antitrust
Carlo de Vito Piscicelli — London/Milan — Leveraged Finance/Restructuring
Jonathan Kolodner — New York — Criminal/Securities/Complex Commercial Litigation
Charles Masson — Paris — Corporate (M&A/Private Equity/Fund Formation)
Paul Tiger — New York — Corporate (M&A)

There’s good diversity in terms of practice areas and geography (6 partners, 5 different countries); in terms of gender, not so much (as noted by the American Lawyer; the firm had no comment to Am Law). The class is slightly smaller than last year’s group of 8.

9. Kirkland & Ellis: K&E announced its 80 new partners back in October 2013. You can check out their names, practice areas, and offices in the press release. The overall number is in line with the prior class of 84 new partners. In terms of cities, K&E’s historic headquarters of Chicago remains strong, with 32 new partners. New York comes in second, with 18, and D.C. takes third place, with 10.

Remember that these partners are non-equity or “non-share partners” (in Kirkland parlance). The firm doesn’t make any public announcement when moving a partner from the non-share to share ranks.

10. Latham & Watkins: Like Kirkland & Ellis, Latham has a two-tier partnership (although Latham doesn’t have as many non-equity partners as K&E). In November 2013, the firm named 20 new partners (listed in office alphabetical order in the press release):

Brussels — Luca Crocco — Litigation
Dubai — Harjaskaran Rai — Finance
Dubai — Nomaan A. Raja — Finance
Hamburg — Jörn Kowalewski — Finance
London — James P. Burnett — Corporate
London — Richard Butterwick — Corporate
London — Jennifer M. Engelhardt — Corporate Department
London — Karl Mah — Tax
Los Angeles — Jason R. Bosworth — Finance
New York — Thomas J. Malone — Corporate
New York — Kevin M. McDonough — Litigation
Orange County — Ryan R. Owens — Litigation
San Diego — Colleen C. Smith — Litigation
San Francisco — Brendan A. McShane — Litigation
San Francisco — Sarah M. Ray — Litigation
San Francisco/Silicon Valley– Haim Zaltzman — Finance
Silicon Valley — Jim Morrone — Corporate
Washington, D.C. — Scott D. Forchheimer — Finance
Washington, D.C. — David J. Greene — Corporate
Washington, D.C. — Brian E. Kowalski — Litigation

This class of 20 is slightly up from the prior year’s class of 18. There’s nice practice-area and geographical diversity (20 partners, 11 different offices). There are only 3 women (compared to 5 in the last class).

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Congratulations to all of the new partners at these 10 superb law firms. We welcome any additional information, opinions, and corrections about these partner classes. You can email us, text us (646-820-8477), or write something in the comments.

This survey looked at just 10 firms. What did your firm do in terms of new partners this year? What practices areas or offices are rising, and which ones are falling? What about the diversity of the new partner class at your firm? And is it getting harder to make partner at your firm? (Of course it is, but maybe tell us how much harder.)

Feel free to discuss in the comments — or if there’s some particularly juicy backstory about partner picking at your firm that would merit a freestanding story, please let us know. Thanks.

[1] I apologize to anyone who was offended by my earlier post, A Law Clerk With A Gilded Résumé, Charged With Solicitation And Attempted Rape Of A Young Boy. In praising Haller Jackson’s credentials, I did not intend to imply that people with amazing résumés are incapable of committing crime. And in making some admittedly tasteless jokes (which are not new to the pages of ATL), I did not intend to trivialize allegations of child rape (which are obviously very serious, even if no real child was involved). Once again, I apologize.

No New Women Partners at Five Am Law Firms This Year [Am Law Daily]

Earlier: New Partner Watch (2013): Incoming Partner Classes at Ten Top Firms
The Love Of A Woman Is More Valuable Than A Partnership At Skadden
A Farewell to Remember: One Partner’s Dramatic Departure Memo
A Law Clerk With A Gilded Résumé, Charged With Solicitation And Attempted Rape Of A Young Boy
New Partner Watch: Another Big Partner Class At Cravath
New Partner Watch (Plus Partner Departures): Weil Gotshal