Astute Litigation Daily readers will have noted by now that the "What I'm Reading Section" below this column is frequently populated by the Q&As my Law.com colleague Tasha Norman conducts with newly minted partners at law firms across the country. Tasha's "How I Made It" series, which provides a growing collection of personal roadmaps for what career success looks like in the law, has recently expanded beyond just partnership promotions to include folks who've recently taken positions on the bench or in law firm management.

For today's column, I dug into the litigators who've been featured in Tasha's "How I Made Partner" spotlight since the beginning of the year to look for through lines. Sure, each partner's individual promotion is a product of their own unique circumstances: What sorts of opportunities was the lawyer given? Did they successfully navigate internal firm politics? Did the firm and its clients have a need for their particular brand of litigation partner during their promotion window?

But taken in the aggregate, these success stories can tell us something more about what it takes these days to win the proverbial pie eating contest where the prize is more pie. Here's what jumped out to me.