Signaling Growth Goals, Some Law Firms Promote Record Partner Classes

Several Am Law 200 firms have elected a record number of attorneys to partner in recent weeks, as firms prepare to meet aggressive growth targets in the coming year.

Since the start of 2025 alone, at least three law firms have announced record-setting new partner classes, including Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld; Schulte Roth & Zabel; and Clark Hill. Others have announced double-digit class sizes similar to recent years, albeit a bit lower than their record sizes from 2021-2023.

The announcements reflect a change in pace from the partner promotions announced toward the end of last year, when some firms had shrinking new partner classes.

This month, Akin promoted to partner 22 lawyers across nine offices, up from 13 last year. Clark Hill elevated 29 attorneys to member status, more than double the number in 2024; and Schulte promoted 12 new partners, double the number promoted last year. Each of these firms confirmed the partner promotions were the largest in firm history.

Other large new partner classes announced this month include Baker & Hostetler’s 24 new partners (up from 13 last year and 23 the year prior, but down from 28 in 2022), and Hogan Lovells’ 28 new partner promotions (the same figure as last year, but lower than the 38 who made partner in 2023).

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett added 44 new partners in late November last year, marking the Am Law 50 firm’s largest class. Last month, King & Spalding elevated 37 lawyers to partner across 14 offices, the largest count in its 140-year history.

“It’s fair to say that most law firms feel a strategic imperative to grow their size and profitability” in 2025, explained Kent Zimmermann, principal at legal strategy outfit Zeughauser Group. “This is because, among a group of firms competing for the same talent pool, larger and more profitable firms tend to have an advantage,” Zimmermann added.

The partner promotions also come as more law firms are rapidly growing their nonequity tier. It’s expected many of Big Law’s new partners will first enter the partnership as nonequity lawyers.

“As part of their effort to accelerate getting larger and more profitable, many firms are accelerating the pace at which they grow their nonequity tier of partners, both as a vehicle to retain excellent senior associates and to grow the pipeline of potential future equity partners while not significantly growing the equity tier in the near term,” Zimmermann noted.

Lateral partner movement has also increased in recent years, prompting firms to work harder to retain their talent, Macrae recruiter Julieta Stubrin wrote in an email.

“When I first started recruiting in law firms (decades ago), there was no lateral partner movement. You joined a firm and that was it. Now there is so much movement within law firms that firms need to work hard to retain talent,” Stubrin wrote, adding that, “promoting partners from within can show (not necessarily accurately) the health of the firm. A partner title also is perceived to be essential to business development which when successful can increase revenue. Firms who promote can appear to be healthier and successful.”

The partner title—even if it doesn’t come with equity expectations—can be a powerful tool for forging new business relationships.

“The partner title can do wonders for a lawyer’s ability to build a book, so if a smaller platform will make you a partner sooner, that’s extremely appealing to a lot of candidates,” noted Kate Reder Sheikh, partner at recruiting firm Major, Lindsey & Africa.

She added that “some of the [new partner] classes that look huge are at firms that moved to a two-tier system, so it isn’t necessarily an expansion of equity partners. … Adding that category allows more people to grab the title, which can be huge for business development.”

Overall, expectations of new partners will continue to be rigorous in the coming year, recruiters said. “Firms have always had a very high bar for equity, and this year was no exception,” Sheikh said.