We shuddered a bit before starting our annual survey of new partners at New Jersey law firms, as we were still reeling from the sharp reductions reported last year. But we got a nice surprise: stability. The surveyed firms reported 106 new partnerships, the same count as last year.
Stability isn’t growth, but it’s an improvement. Last year, the recession took its toll. New partnerships — which had averaged 150 for the years 2007-09 — took a 27 percent plunge. What’s more, 16 of the “new” partners last year were actually refugees from recently imploded WolfBlock, who made landfall at other firms.
