ISN'T IT RICH? - American Business Media

BARTALKFor more on new partners, go to americanlawyer.comTIMING IS EVERYTHINGPartner promotions are up over last year, but women struggle to gain ground.LIKE MANY OF HIS LAWfirm peers, attorney ColinKemp had his sightsset on making partner when hejoined Pillsbury Winthrop ShawPittman’s life sciences and technologygroup straight out of lawschool. In January, ten years afterhe began his legal career, Kempreceived that long-sought-afterpromotion.Kemp is one of the 1,236 associatesand counsel to make partnerat 128 Am Law 200 firms asof February 1. And while thereare some positive aspects to thisyear’s elevation process—overall,the number of lawyers namedto partner has inched up sincelast year—there are also a fewsour notes. Women continue tobe promoted at lower rates thanmen, and, regardless of gender,the amount of time it takes tomake partner appears to be longerthan it used to be.Of the firms reporting on newpartner promotions, the overallnumber of partners named was 5percent higher than the previousyear, but a third of firms namedfewer partners than they did in2011. Among those with largerpartner classes this year, EpsteinBecker Green showed the mostgrowth. The firm elevated eightlawyers this year, compared to justone last year. Schulte Roth & Zabeland Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen& Katz, which both took a year offfrom promotions in 2011, got backin the game with four and threepartner elevations, respectively.Not surprisingly, the firms withthe most lawyers tended to namethe most new partners. Jones Day,which has 2,500 lawyers, named45 new partners (up from 36 lastyear); Mayer Brown,with 1,650 lawyers, promoted39 attorneys (upfrom 36); and HoganLovells, with its 2,350-lawyer force, elevated 35 new partners(down from 36 in 2011).In the 2012 class, women accountedfor nearly one-third ofthe 1,236 promotions, with somefirms doing a better job of elevatingwomen than others. Nineteenfirms—including Haynes andBoone (with nine new partners) andIce Miller (eight new partners)—didn’t promote any female associates.Overall, just 20 percentof the firms had new classes thatwere at least half women. One ofthose firms, Choate Hall & Stewart,promoted only women, albeitwith a class size of two. And JonesDay promoted the greatest numberof women, 15, which was exactlyone-third of its 45-lawyer class.While most firmsdon’t have a formal policyabout the number of yearsit takes to make partner, manyconcede that it typically takes atleast seven or eight years before anassociate can even be considered.But for this year’s crop, the waitwas substantially longer. An analysisof a sampling of 650 membersof the new partner class found thatit took an average of ten-and-a-halfyears before they were promoted.Now that the wait is over, newpartners like Kemp are ready forthe challenges that come with theposition. “The last couple months,a lot of folks have asked me,‘Now do you get to go on a tripto Hawaii and relax?’” Kemp says.“The answer is unequivocally no.”—SARAARANDAZZOWILLIAM RIESERWe are honored to be named Litigation Department of the Yearfor the second time in a row and would like to thank our clientsfor making it possible. We appreciate your trust and consider it aprivilege to work with you.“ First Republic Securities has the knowledgeand integrity to serve our investment needs.They serve us well.”ANDREW GIACOMINIManaging Partner/CEOHanson Bridgett LLPJOAN CASSMANHead of Government SectionHanson Bridgett LLPTERESA PAHLHead of Corporate & Business SectionHanson Bridgett LLPThank you.PRIVATE BANKING PRIVATE BUSINESS BANKING WEALTH MANAGEMENT(800) 392-1400 or visit www.firstrepublic.comNew York Stock Exchange Symbol: FRCBrokerage services provided through First Republic Securities Co., LLC. Member FINRA/SIPC.Investment products are not FDIC insured, carry no bank guarantee and may lose money.