Time to Partner at the Firms That Promote Most: Volume Is Not Speed

Associates ask how long does it take to make partner at big law firms, and the honest answer depends less on the size of the firm than on the firm itself. Sartori & Partners data show a market median of 10.0 years from the first year of practice to the promotion, measured on 10,427 partners made over the last 5 years. Firms of 1,000+ lawyers sit on exactly that median. Yet among the ten firms that promoted the most partners in the 12 months to May 2026, pace varies widely: two make partners faster than the market, three take longer, and two sit in line with it. For a firm leader, that spread is the part of the partnership offer a candidate actually compares.

The middle half of new partners took between 9.0 years and 12.0 years to get there. That is a tight window for a career that starts in the same year for everyone in a class. The mean, 11.1 years, sits above the median because a minority waits well beyond the usual track. Fast promotions are the exception: 23.2% of partners were made within 8 years, while 75.4% were made within 12 years.

Time to partner here means years from the first year of practice to the promotion, and promotion figures stop at May 2026, the last complete month. Because countries qualify lawyers on different routes, the comparison holds within one country rather than across borders. The consequence for a hiring partner is simple. A senior associate in year nine or ten is not late, and a candidate who made partner in under eight years is part of a small group whose record deserves a closer look at how the firm defines the title.

Large firms make most of the market's partners: firms of 1,000+ lawyers account for 49.9% of the 2,955 promotions to partner in the 12 months to May 2026. Their pace is no different from anyone else's. The median is 10.0 years at firms of 1,000+ lawyers, 10.0 years at 400-999 lawyers, 10.0 years at 150-399 lawyers and 10.0 years under 150 lawyers.

Where size shows at all is the fast end. At firms of 150-399 lawyers, 27.1% of new partners were made within 8 years, against 21.8% at firms of 1,000+ lawyers, a gap of 5.3 points. The lower quartile tells the same story: 8.0 years at the smaller class, 9.0 years at the largest. So a size label is a poor guide to a firm's track. Benchmark against the specific firm a candidate would leave, not against its peer group.

Kirkland & Ellis heads the promotion list, in the 61-100 band, and its partner track is shorter than the market median. McDermott Will & Schulte, ranked 3rd in the 21-40 band, is also shorter. Both are firms of 1,000+ lawyers, the class whose own median matches the market, so the speed belongs to the firm, not to its scale.

Three high-volume promoters run longer than the market median. Latham & Watkins ranks 5th, DLA Piper ranks 6th and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates ranks 8th, all in the 21-40 band. A large partner class does not mean an early one. Norton Rose Fulbright, ranked 2nd, and Dentons, ranked 7th, sit in line with the market.

Pace readings compare each firm's own median with the market's; a firm's partner title can cover more than one tier, and a shorter track sometimes reflects a first, non-equity step. For a recruiting firm, the three-way split is a map. Associates at the slower promoters are the ones most open to a conversation about an earlier route, and associates at the faster ones will judge any offer against a promotion date they can already see.

In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, the promoters also differ in how many partners they buy. Firm hiring ranks count individual lateral hires, not lawyers who arrived as one team in the same quarter. Kirkland & Ellis pairs its shorter track with the 1st place among lateral partner hirers, in the 61-100 band, and its leaving rate is above the market. Fast promotion there sits beside heavy buying and above-market turnover, not in place of them.

Among the slower promoters, DLA Piper ranks 3rd for lateral partners, in the 61-100 band, and its net partner flow was balanced; net partner flow counts lateral partners hired against partners who left for another firm over 12 months. Latham & Watkins sits in the 11-25 group of partner hirers with a positive net flow. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates sits in the 51-100 group, also positive, with a leaving rate above the market.

Dentons, in line on pace, ranks 4th for lateral partners. McDermott Will & Schulte sits in the 11-25 group of partner hirers, with a leaving rate in line with the market. The practical reading: a slow track does not stop a firm from adding partners from outside, so a lateral partner joining a slower promoter should ask how the firm weighs bought partners against its own senior associates.

First, set your partner timetable against named firms, not size classes. The large-firm median is 10.0 years, the same as the market, so telling a candidate you promote on a large-firm schedule says nothing. Know which of the high-volume promoters run shorter or longer tracks, and say plainly where your own firm sits.

Second, recruit senior associates where the clock is slow. A candidate in year nine at a longer-track firm still has the market median of 10.0 years ahead or just behind, and a credible promotion date can outweigh pay. Third, expect resistance at the faster promoters: their associates can see a date, and a move restarts the count at most firms. Fourth, read a fast partner title with care. With only 23.2% of partners made within 8 years, an early promotion is rare enough to ask which tier it was.