Michael Allen
Over the last 15 years, law firm leverage – the ratio between equity partners and all other attorneys – has increased every year, bar two. During this period, the number of equity partners has increased by 27 percent while the number of “all other attorneys” has increased by nearly 86 percent. This trend has tilted leverage to a new high of 3.122 – up 47 percent from 2.13 in 2000. Consequently, it’s never been harder to make partner.
These decreasing odds mean that you must decide, from the minute you step in the firm, what your career goals are. Making partner is the culmination of 7+ years of planning, not happenstance. So how does one become a partner? Here are five things you must do if you want to make partner.
1. Take a heat check. Peak marketability for associates occurs between their third and fifth year. The vast majority of all our associate openings are for midlevel associates, not junior or senior level. Any earlier than three years, associates won’t have much substantive experience; any later than five years, their runway is quite short if they don’t make partner. Associates should use their most marketable time to determine their odds of making partner at their current firm.
If the prospects for partnership are not good, this is the best time to make a lateral move to a firm where your shot at making partner is higher. Moving during the 3-5 year range allows associates to leverage their desirability to find a firm that puts them on track for making partner, while giving them a long enough runway to accrue the necessary goodwill and experience to cash in for a partnership in 3-5 years.
How can one determine their odds at making partner?
2. Look at the supply and demand. Firms are businesses that obey simple economic rules like any other business. There are a certain number of partnership positions available for a certain practice area before a firm experiences overcrowding and significant diminishing returns.
To calculate demand, you should look at the current stock of partners. If the partners are young and have a “lifer” mentality, your prospects are poor. If the partnership ranks are skewed older, your chances improve. Lateral moves can complicate this analysis; you can never be certain how long a partner will actually stay. Our calculations have shown most partners jump firms 3-5 years after making their first lateral move – possibly opening a spot when your partnership candidacy is approaching, assuming there is business sitting on the table.
However, demand is not the only variable. Who are your competitors? If your practice is filled with a glut of associates with the same year and similar credentials, the odds decrease. If you are stuck in this predicament, a lateral move is likely your best bet, to find a firm where you stand out relative to your peers, which brings us to our next point.
3. Find a smaller pond. If the supply or demand is not conducive to your partnership odds, consider seeking a firm that is both lower leverage and has more attractive billing rates for you to develop a book. Your competition will be less fierce, and the alternative is possibly staying for a perpetual senior associateship.
4. Find a growing pond. Growing practices are another advantageous environment. This principle operates in tandem with demand. If a firm is significantly growing a practice, they are usually at a disadvantage of demanding more than the market can supply. Moving into a growing practice is not only easier, but chances are, the partnership stock is thin – making your prospects greater in a few years. You will have the institutional memory for the expanding practice, making you even more indispensable.
5. Find the right platform. Not every firm puts an associate up for partnership. Highly leveraged firms often have less specialized work for any particular associate, denying the opportunity to specialize. If you are at one of these firms, and your goal is to make partner, you should be looking for a firm whose structure – supply and demand – and environment – experience and support – maximize your opportunities for becoming a partner.
Becoming a partner is a strenuous but not insurmountable goal. To achieve it, associates must plan for it from the very start. If you are an associate and need advice on how to make partner, feel free to contact my fellow recruiters at Lateral Link.
Lateral Link is one of the top-rated international legal recruiting firms. With over 14 offices world-wide, Lateral Link specializes in placing attorneys at the most prestigious law firms and companies in the world. Managed by former practicing attorneys from top law schools, Lateral Link has a tradition of hiring lawyers to execute the lateral leaps of practicing attorneys. Click here to find out more about us.