For law firm associates looking for advice on how to chart a path to partnership, newly minted partners are a source of helpful guideposts. 

Our colleagues at Law.com have continued to gather advice new partners have for those coming up behind them in the ranks as part of the site's "How I Made It" series. Over the coming months and weeks we plan to highlight the litigators who have participated in Q&As over the past year. This morning we're starting with five women who have recently made partner at Am Law 50 firms. The large, high-stakes matters these firms tend to handle make it difficult at times to find the connection between junior associate tasks and the client's end goal. But all five of these litigators—Julianne Jaquith of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan (#18 on the Am Law 100), Jillian Sommers of Perkins Coie (#43), Tansy Woan of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (#5), Marisa West of Sidley Austin (#6) and Kaitland Kennelly of Cooley (#19)—all urged junior lawyers with aspirations of partnership to figure out how their work fits into the bigger picture.