Fewer new partners in 2023, especially among women

The Missouri legal profession saw a 19 percent drop in new partners in the past year compared to 2022,  almost entirely impacting the number of women rising in the ranks, the New Partners Survey conducted by Missouri Lawyers Media found.

In 2023, there were 135 new partners among 46 firms, compared to 167 among 61 firms in 2022 and 163 at 49 firms in 2021.

That’s 32 fewer new partners this past year. However, the number of men who became new partners dropped by five, from 102 to 97, while the number of women dropped from 65 to 38. That means only 28 percent of this year’s new partner class were women.

Looking at the past five years, there was already a slight downward trend for women making partner in Missouri.  Women comprised 41 percent of new partners in 2019, 36 percent in 2020 and 2021, 39 percent in 2022 and now 28 percent in 2023.

Of course, the legal profession continues to be male-dominated. 36.9 percent of Missouri Bar members are women, according to last year’s enrollment form, which saw 90.3 percent of bar members report their gender. But there are more women among younger age groups: More than 50 percent of women lawyers in Missouri are between 30 and 49 — an age where they are more likely to be considered for partner — and American law schools have seen more women than men enroll every year since 2016, when that happened for the first time.

“The number of women graduating from law schools has increased significantly over time, and that has not correlated to an increase in women partners at the same percentage,” said Mollie Farrell Khazaeli, who spent seven years as Greensfelder’s director of professional development before joining Aspire, which provides coaching, training and policy advice related to professional development to firms and lawyers. “While we’ve built up the pipeline, it’s not coming out the way we thought it would on the other side.”

Part of the reason that women are underrepresented among new partners is that they are more likely to perform duties that are not as easy to measure as billable hours, said Aspire CEO Kelli Dunaway, who is also a St. Louis County Council member and former attorney who spent much of her career leading recruiting and professional development at large and mid-sized law firms.

“In big law, one of the big things that I have always seen is that women sort of get saddled with those house-keeping items like mentoring and training and summer associate events and making sure that everybody has what they need to be successful and spending a little extra time with the associates that are struggling,” she said.

According to Dunaway, that affects the number of billable hours attorneys deliver in a year and ultimately holds them back.

“Until law firms are willing to give the same billable hours credit to all of these other things that they say are just as important for culture and the development of talent, we are going to continue to see women straggling behind men in the partnership rink,” she said.

Farrell Khazaeli said there has been improvement in recognizing these types of contributions and understanding that lawyers trying to make partner are people with their own struggles and lives outside of work.

“And I think that some of this focus on balance and mental health and resilience came at a time that, then we were interrupted by the pandemic, so it will be interesting to see what these numbers look like next year and in the following years,” she said.

Laterals are rising

Another thing to note from this year’s survey is that the decrease in the number of new partners is entirely due to fewer promotions, while there were actually more lateral hires in 2023 (41) than in 2022 (35).

However, one firm — Quarles & Brady — is responsible for eight of the past year’s lateral hires, as the large firm set up shop in St. Louis in late 2023. Quarles, thereby, landed in the top five of firms with the most new partners in this survey, tied with Husch Blackwell. Above those firms were Evans & Dixon with nine, Armstrong Teasdale with 11 and Polsinelli with 12.

Polsinelli Chairman and CEO Chase Simmons said that number was a byproduct of the recent year’s success and client demand.

“Obviously, like many firms, we were very, very busy in ’21 and ’22 and parts of 2023, so that created a lot of opportunity for people, and so our promotion classes for shareholders, partners, have been large,” Simmons said.

Six of Polsinelli’s new partners were lateral hires, the highest number among firms already established in Missouri at the start of 2023. While the firm does not have anything like quotas for promotions versus laterals, bringing in fresh faces is a purposeful way to ensure positive change.

“We’re a firm that, if you look back at our history, we’ve had a pretty good mix of growth by laterals versus kind of more home-grown,” Simmons said, adding that laterals have mostly come in groups or individual hires rather than through mergers. “We feel like we’ve benefited from people coming in being able to both assimilate to our culture but bring some fresh ideas.”

Looking strictly at promotions, Evans & Dixon topped the charts with eight, followed by Armstrong Teasdale and Husch Blackwell with seven each. Husch Blackwell Chair-elect Joe Glynias said his firm’s promoted partners were associates who had been performing at partner levels.

“So it’s only appropriate to recognize those contributions and, along with the revenue they generate, the culture that they create, the role they provide. Particularly in helping to develop associates, support the organization, move it forward in the many different initiatives we have, whether that’s DEI or anything else that is beyond dollars and cents. So, these folks — I’m looking at the list of them right now — they’re people I think about when I think about the identity of our law firm,” Glynias said. “So there’s no way you couldn’t make them partner.”

With strong financial results and a strong talent pipeline, Glynias expects Husch Blackwell will also see a high number of new partners in 2024.

“We don’t ever target a certain number, but just knowing the number of senior associates, senior counsel, we have who are in position to become partner, I have no reason to think there’ll be a material difference,” he said.

Of the 10 largest firms in the state with more than $100 million in annual revenue, according to Missouri Lawyers Media’s 2023 MOney publication, six also made it into the top 10 for new partners, while Stinson, Lathrop GPM and BCLP had a relatively quiet year with two new partners each.

The New Partners list is based on email survey responses submitted by Missouri law firms as well as press releases and announcements for new hires throughout the year. The list includes partners named or hired in 2023 after last year’s list and announcements ending in early January. As a result, our list may not match firms’ internal counts.

This article has been updated to reflect the correct spelling of Kelli Dunaway’s last name.

Freelance researcher Jennie Goodman contributed to this report.