While representation has slowly improved over the years, women still only comprise approximately 28% of the total partnership at Am Law 200 firms, a figure that has been a continuous target for improvement in Big Law.

Firms have always had two primary levers to pull to improve gender diversity in the partnership: develop internal talent pipelines to promote more women from within or hire more women lateral partners. Based on 2022 data gathered by Law.com Compass, the Am Law 200 has recently leveraged the former option more than the latter when seeking ways to improve gender diversity at the partner level.

Law.com Compass analysis shows that of the 3,341 new partner promotions recorded at Am Law 200 firms in 2022, 42% were women. Comparatively, of the 3,290 lateral partner hires tracked at Am Law 200 firms from January through October 2022, just 32% were women.