Each week, the Law.com Barometer newsletter, powered by the ALM Global Newsroom and Legalweek brings you the trends, disruptions, and shifts our reporters and editors are tracking through coverage spanning every beat and region across the ALM Global Newsroom. The micro-topic coverage will not only help you navigate the changing legal landscape but also prepare you to discuss these shifts with thousands of legal leaders at Legalweek 2023, taking place March 20-23, 2023 in New York City. Stay tuned for more information.

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The Disruption: Big Law's Partner Problem

 While large law firms learned their lesson from the Great Recession when it came to the perils of laying off too many associates—only to be left with no one to do the work when demand returned—they are potentially facing a related problem post-pandemic when it comes to partner promotions.

In just the last few weeks, we have reported on instances of partners retiring early, on the one hand, and firms scrambling to hire more partners, on the other. This phenomenon, which started in 2021, is further highlighted by some interesting data set to be released next week as part of the Am Law 100 report, and has even deeper implications when separating out the equity and nonequity tiers.