Biglaw

The Ranks Of Biglaw Partnership Are Shrinking

Your chances of making partner are dropping.

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At the biggest of the Biglaw firms there’s a disturbing trend afoot — well, disturbing if you still hold out the faint hope of one day making partner at a Biglaw shop — the percentage of partners at the best firms is steadily decreasing. That’s according to data collected by Law360 at 64 of the 100 biggest 100 firms.

Overall, the partnership numbers in 2013 went from 42.2 percent of lawyer headcount to 40.8 percent by 2017.

There are even 16 elite firms where the partnership clocks in at under 25 percent of headcount.

And, as with most Biglaw decisions it probably has something to do with money  As William Henderson, a professor at Indiana University Maurer School of Law, told Law360:

“A smaller number of partners means a fewer number of slices that need to be cut up when you divide the profit pool.”

Ropes & Gray managing partner, David Chapin, also says that Biglaw is naturally conservative and that cautious nature plays a role:

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“It’s fair to say that firms in general, and we’re no exception, are being more cautious about advancing people into the equity partner ranks,” Chapin said. “All firms have been, and we have been, more judicious in that respect.”

It also might be that more attorneys are opting out of the partnership hunt. Peter Johnson of Law Practice Consultants says lawyers instead prefer the world of in-house:

“The stigma about leaving a large law firm to go someplace else is not what it used to be… Going in-house used to be ‘going out to pasture.’ Now it’s a preferred job for many.”

Let’s hope that people who find themselves shut out of partnership opportunities find other rewarding work.

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headshotKathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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