How Long to Make Partner in Public M&A: 9.0 years

Ask how long to make partner in M&A and the answer is shorter than for most of the profession. Sartori & Partners data show that public M&A lawyers, who advise on takeovers of listed companies, tender offers and shareholder votes, made partner at a median of 9.0 years from their first year of practice, against 10.0 years across all practices. The figure rests on 359 public M&A promotions with a known start year over the last 5 years. That clock is not special to public work: private M&A promotes at a median of 9.0 years as well. What separates public M&A from the rest of the deal practice is how firms fill the partner seat. Partners are 48.8% of its lateral moves, against 38.8% in private M&A and 29.9% in corporate and M&A as a whole. A firm planning a public M&A bench has to manage a short internal clock and a lateral market built around partners at the same time.

The years are counted from the first year of practice to the promotion, across every partner promotion announced over the last 5 years. On that measure the whole public M&A distribution sits earlier than the market's. The middle half of public M&A promotions fell between 8.0 years and 11.0 years; the market's middle half runs from 9.0 years to 12.0 years. The average public M&A partner was named at 9.9 years, against 11.1 years for all practices. Within 12 years, 85.5% of public M&A partners had been promoted, against 75.4% across the profession.

Set against its own practice, public M&A is not an outlier. Corporate and M&A as a whole promotes at a median of 9.0 years, with an average of 10.2 years. The speed belongs to transactional work in general: deal lawyers build a visible record of closings early, and firms with steady deal flow promote to keep the people who run the transactions.

For a firm leader, the consequence is timing. A public M&A associate in the sixth or seventh year is closer to a partnership decision than a peer in most other groups, and a retention plan built on the firm-wide calendar arrives late for that cohort.

The early promotion is where public M&A pulls away from the wider profession. In the Sartori & Partners promotion records, 31.2% of public M&A partners made it within 8 years of starting practice. Across all practices the figure is 23.2%, a gap of 8.0 points. Inside corporate and M&A the rate is 29.5%, and private M&A sits at 31.5%, so public M&A shares the fast end with its sister speciality rather than setting the pace.

The fastest public M&A promotions cluster at 8.0 years or less, against 9.0 years for the fastest market cohort.

This shapes associate recruiting. A senior public M&A associate who can see a partnership vote within reach has every reason to stay through it, so the candidates who move below partner tend to be those who have just been told to wait. A firm hiring at that level should expect to match a promotion timetable as well as a salary, and to say so in the first meeting.

A short internal clock might suggest that firms grow their own public M&A partners. The lateral market says they also buy them. Sartori & Partners data show 123 partner moves among 252 public M&A lateral moves over the last 12 months. Associates were 39.7% of public M&A moves, against 57.7% in the practice and 58.5% across all lawyers. Over 3 years the public M&A partner share was 45.1%, so the tilt toward partners is not one year's accident.

Partner hiring held flat (+1.7%) on the settled windows, with 118 partner moves against 116 the year before. Total public M&A hiring held flat (-7.8%), 247 moves against 268, while corporate and M&A as a practice rose 15.8%. The growth in deal hiring went to other parts of the practice; public M&A held its level and kept its partner weight.

For a firm that needs a public M&A partner, this is a market where the seat is often filled sideways, and every candidate is weighed by other firms doing the same. Expect a long list of conversations for a short list of movers.

Public M&A hiring sits in few hands. Sartori & Partners counted 91 firms that hired public M&A lawyers over the last 12 months, and the top 10 of them took 38.6% of the moves. In corporate and M&A the top 10 took 21.6%, in private M&A 24.5%, and in the whole market 12.9%. Taken over 3 years, the public M&A figure is 30.6%, so the most active hirers hold a larger slice over the latest 12 months than across the longer period.

On partner hires alone, White & Case ranks first, in the 6-10 band, followed by Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. The top 10 partner hirers took 38.5% of public M&A partner moves.

Firm size tells the same story. Firms of 1,000+ lawyers made 80.6% of public M&A lateral hires, against 64.2% in private M&A and 53.6% market-wide. Firms of 400-999 lawyers took 11.5%, against 23.4% across the market. A firm outside the largest group is recruiting against the biggest platforms for nearly every public M&A partner, and its offer has to rest on what they cannot give: a smaller partnership to share the work, a faster route to running a public mandate, fewer conflicts with existing clients.

Only two cities clear the publication threshold for public M&A over the last 12 months, and both over-index. New York took 20.2% of moves, an index of 137 against the market's own share. London took 17.1%, an index of 185, the stronger tilt of the two. For comparison, London's index in private M&A is 143.

Public M&A lawyers also change city less often. Among moves where both cities are known, 15.7% of public M&A laterals relocated, against 21.2% in corporate and M&A and 20.5% across the market. The work follows listed companies and their regulators, and the lawyers stay near both. The practical rule: recruit in the city where the seat is, because a public M&A partner in New York or London is less likely than most lawyers to relocate for it.

First, plan around the clock. With a median of 9.0 years to partner and 31.2% promoted within 8 years, a public M&A associate class reaches its partnership decision earlier than most of the firm. Retention steps for that group belong in the years before the vote, earlier than the firm-wide calendar suggests.

Second, budget for the lateral route. Corporate and M&A promoted 0.75 partners for each lateral partner it hired over the same 12 months, against 0.79 market-wide, and public M&A moves are 48.8% partners. A firm that wants a public M&A partner soon should plan on the lateral market and price the search accordingly.

Third, expect concentrated competition. With the top 10 hirers at 38.6% of moves and the largest firms at 80.6%, a mid-sized firm should target partners who want more control of their mandates, and should recruit in New York or London, where the candidates already are.