Nobody said making partner was easy. But for those willing to put in the hours and sacrifice weekends and evenings in return for an ownership stake in the firm, this year's partner promotions round was good news.

Analysis by Legal Week of the 2015 partner appointments found the number of lawyers making the grade rose by nearly 8% across the largest firms in the UK by revenue compared with last year.

Across the 28 top 30 firms to have so far confirmed details of their 2015 promotions rounds, 454 new partners have been made up, compared with 422 in 2014.

The haul is more than 20% higher than in 2013, when 372 partners were promoted in a reduced round that reflected the economic instability at the time and compared with 414 in 2012.

By number, Norton Rose Fulbright made up the most partners this year across its Swiss verein with 51, but, looking at promotions as a percentage of total partner count, Addleshaw Goddard had the biggest proportional promotions round. The national firm added 18 partners to its average count of 171 for the 2014 financial year, equating to just over 10% of its total partnership being made up.

Pinsent Masons promoted the second most partners as a proportion of its partnership, adding 29 partners, or 7.7% of its total – a record high for the firm.

Commenting on the trend for larger promotions rounds Allen & Overy (A&O) senior partner David Morley says: "Whether it's up or down in the year will depend on how bullish people are feeling. Were people feeling bullish this year? It's fair to say they were. I think there's a limited value in forensically examining each year's numbers though – what's more important is overall trends."

Making up new partners is a long-term investment and can't be made because of short-term changes in activity levels. As Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer senior partner Will Lawes argues, appointing new partners is a decision that can't be rushed into. "For us the election of new partners is a 20-25 year investment decision, based on our judgements about the long-term business needs of the firm and the qualities of the individuals concerned. The size and composition of any year group will accordingly go up and down."

Across the group Nabarro and Bird & Bird promoted the smallest number of partners, with three each. Bird & Bird also appointed the lowest number of partners as a percentage of its partnership at 1.1%, compared to an average of around 5% for the top 30 as a whole. Other firms making up fewer new partners as a percentage of their partnerships than average include Kennedys and Berwin Leighton Paisner, both with 2.3%. But what other trends emerge from this year's promotions?

Girl power
Inevitably, given the attention firms have been paying to improving gender diversity, the trend towards greater female representation has continued across the group. Overall the number of women made up in 2015 stood at 171 across the group, compared with 134 in 2014 – an increase of nearly 30% on last year and 70% more than the 101 women appointed in 2013.

Female promotions accounted for 38% of all new partners in 2015, a six percentage point rise on the year before and 11 percentage points up on 2013.
Top performers when looking at gender in 2015 include Olswang, where all five of its new partners were women, Irwin Mitchell, where women numbered six of its seven new partners, and CMS Cameron McKenna, where almost half (18 of 39) of its promotions were female.

With firms of all sizes pledging to boost female representation in the partnership, internal mentoring, support groups and diversity targets are now an increasingly common feature in how law firms operate.

"It's terrific to see the breadth of talent that people are now able to draw on," comments Taylor Wessing HR director Caroline Rawes. "What's the reason behind that? You have to go back to some of the initiatives the legal sector has undertaken and the attention that has been drawn to the topic."

Much of the effort has come as firms realise the value and importance of having more women at partner level and recognise the need to develop talented juniors to get there.

John Cleland, managing partner at Pinsent Masons – where nearly 40% of this year's promotions were female – says he is proud that his firm is "in the vanguard of firms that recognise that, without a diverse partnership, their business will not be able to achieve its full potential.

"It's a long-term commitment to remove perceived barriers to progression and ensure there is a level playing field for all."

But despite the overall improvements, A&O's Morley warns that the numbers are still "not as many as we would like". 

Across the five magic circle firms the total number of lawyers promoted to partner climbed to the highest point since 2012 this year, with the proportion of women made up each year rising from 26% in 2012 to 31% across the group.

Foreign flight
By geography, the trends are slightly less pronounced. Asia, excluding Australia, accounted for 9.25% of all promotions in 2015, down from 11%, while the proportion of overall appointments in the US stayed roughly the same too, edging down from 11% last year to 10.5% this year.

That static US percentage came despite the attention of some UK firms such as Freshfields, which hired several senior US lawyers between September 2014 and February 2015.

Group-wide the number of new partners in London remained roughly steady – 132 in 2015 versus 136 last year – but, as a proportion of global promotions, this is three percentage points lower at 29.1% this year compared with 32.2% in 2014. In contrast, the number of partner appointments in London last year grew by a third.

Outside of the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) saw a greater number of new partners in 2015, both in absolute and relative terms. The jump from 109 to 126 in the region took it close to London in terms of total number of promotions. As a percentage of total appointments, EMEA increased its share from 26% in 2014 to 28% in 2015, with continental European offices gaining the most new partners within that group, reflecting renewed confidence in the market.

Pinsent Masons, for instance, promoted its first partner in Germany. "There's no doubt that firms are geographically expanding by opening new offices in central Europe, but they're also building out their teams in key cities," explains Paul Heugh, chief executive of strategy consultancy Skarbek.

"With the market in London becoming more competitive there's always that trickle-down effect to the regions," adds G2 Legal associate director Sarah Manning. "So when you have got good people in the regions people want to keep them. There's been a fair bit of work done in terms of retention this year."

Making the cut
Regardless of their gender or location, all of the lawyers promoted this year will share similar traits, according to top law firm leaders. The skills needed to make partner go far beyond being a technical expert and are much more about providing a wider contribution to the life of the firm.

"There's a whole series of things we look at as part of the process," says Morley. "The main one is: are they ready to be a partner, an owner of the business?"

"We are looking for commercial awareness, the ability to build a practice, energy, enthusiasm, an understanding of the firm and people and leadership skills."
He admits that the promotions process is "pretty tough" for people to get through, taking roughly a year from start to finish, and is one that requires support from existing partners in the candidate's office and practice group before a partnership vote.

"There's always been an emphasis in this firm on internal promotions," Morley points out. "They are the people we know best and every firm loves to bring up their own talent."

Pinsents' Cleland echoes similar sentiments: "It is always very satisfying to be in a position to help our lawyers achieve their partnership aspirations. This crop of new partners has really embraced the firm's approach to understanding the sectors in which our clients operate every bit as well as they understand the black letter law.
"I've also been impressed by the real commitment to innovation and doing things differently that came through this year. This generation of partners has an unparalleled opportunity to upset the established order."

What lawyers want
Despite the availability of partnership alternatives increasing in recent years, there is no shortage of candidates willing to step up to join the equity. 

Some observers though are sceptical that this will remain the case forever, suggesting that rising numbers of partnership contenders could be swayed by less stressful alternatives either within their own firms or in-house. "There's a changing identity of people coming into law now," says Heugh. "What they want and what they are motivated by is different. I don't think firms have worked out what that means and how they need to change.

"It's much more difficult to get engagement now – you will have a number of people who are not engaged because what's on offer isn't linked to their values or what matters to them."

Heugh argues that what's important for prospective partners today is new skills, new experiences and more exciting projects, not just the pay packet and the status. "If you are not researching and probing that as a firm you are going to be at a disadvantage to those that do."

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Top London promoters

Ashurst – 12
Pinsent Masons – 10
Herbert Smith Freehills – 9
Addleshaw Goddard – 9
Linklaters – 8

Top Asia promoters

Norton Rose Fulbright – 8
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer – 6
Herbert Smith Freehills – 5
DLA Piper – 4
Clifford Chance – 3

Top promoters in EMEA excluding UK

CMS Cameron McKenna – 29
Norton Rose Fulbright – 17
Clifford Chance – 12
Allen & Overy – 12
Linklaters – 11