Fewer Lawyers Making Partner in Big Calif. Firms
Eight out of 13 large California law firms announcing new partners are promoting fewer lawyers than last year.
Law firm consultants say they aren’t surprised. “I would be amazed if there wasn’t a reduction in the admission of new partners this year,” Brad Hildebrandt of Hildebrandt International told the Recorder (sub. req.).
Peter Zeughauser of the Zeughauser Group told the legal publication that law firms have previously promoted too many associates to partnerships, and “firms are going to pay for the sins of past years.”
Mayer Brown and McDermott, Will & Emery each named only 27 new partners this year, compared to 43 last year at Mayer Brown and 42 at McDermott, the Recorder story says. Also promoting fewer partners are Cooley Godward Kronish; Fenwick & West; Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; Proskauer Rose; Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati; and Weil, Gotshal & Manges.
