Number of new partners increases slightly in 2026 compared to previous year

While the number of new partners either promoted or hired laterally has increased slightly compared to 2024, law firm executives are wary of potential barriers to growth moving into 2026.

One legal leader says Missouri in particular, is difficult for growth and is not well positioned in the market at this time. Others are worried about the impact AI may have on the industry and on the effect geopolitical tensions may have on their practices.

On a national level, growth is better than it has been since the pandemic and remains steady in the Midwest. Although there are some positive indicators of growth, including a slight increase in new partners in 2025, overall new partner gains remain on a down swing from 2023, according to survey results submitted to Missouri Lawyers Media.

Nationally in 2025, 39 firms reporting to this publication hired 264 partners; just under half of these new partners will be based in the state.

In Missouri, 129 new partners were promoted or hired laterally among 39 firms, marking a slight uptick in the number of new partners from 2024.

In 2024, there were 123 new partners among 38 firms. In 2023, there were 135 among 46 firms.

A majority of Missouri new partners (65) will be based in St. Louis, 58 will practice in Kansas City, two were added to the Springfield area, one to Belleville and two to Alton, Illinois and one to Independence.

Gender disparity

Gender inequality among new partners grew more apparent last year than in previous years.

Approximately 25.8 percent of 2025’s new partners are women, marking a sharp decline from 2024 where 38 percent of new partners across Missouri were women.

Of the data submitted, 33 women were promoted or hired to partner roles in the state as opposed to 75 men. The remaining 21 did not specify their gender.

The American Bar Association previously declared 2016-2026 the “Decade of the Female Lawyer” and said the profession was expected to reach gender parity by 2026.

While it remains unclear if the profession will achieve this goal by the end of this year, the 2025 National Lawyer Population Survey published by the ABA’s Center for Bar Leadership, shows a 1-percentage point increase in the ratio of female (41 percent) to male (58 percent) lawyers since 2024.

Promotions and lateral hires

Most new partners (110) were promoted, 18 were hired laterally and one did not specify one way or the other.

The number of lateral hires is lower than in past years. While it is much more common for partners to be promoted to their roles, 2025’s figures represent a nearly 30 percent decrease from last year.

In 2024, 24 new partners (with two remaining uncategorized) were hired laterally, indicating an upswing in the number of lateral hires comparable with figures last seen in 2023.

In 2023, 70 percent of new partners were promoted while the remaining 30 percent were lateral hires, leading to a slight increase in the number of lateral hires from 2022 to 2023 — from 35 to 41 — Missouri Lawyers Media previously reported.

By the numbers

The firm that hired or promoted the largest number of new partners in 2025 was Polsinelli at 11. Polsinelli also had the largest number in 2024 at 14.

After Polsinelli, Shook, Hardy & Bacon and Husch Blackwell both welcomed 10 new partners.

Of the new partners who graduated from Missouri law schools, Saint Louis University led the pack with 22 graduates being promoted or hired to the role.

Following Saint Louis University, 18 graduated from the University of Missouri Kansas City, 14 from Washington University and 10 from the University of Missouri.

Regionally, 17 new partners graduated from the University of Kansas and 9 from Southern Illinois University.

The future of growth

Husch Blackwell Chair Josef Glynias, in the St. Louis office, said the firm has had a net growth of 422 attorneys since 2018, without a firm combination.

The firm’s growth has never been, and will never be, focused on location, ranking or size, Glynias said. Instead, the firm is looking to expand its specialized practice areas and expertise based on what its clients need.

“I think as law becomes even more specialized and practitioners become even more expert in what they do, we’re going to continue to grow and bring people in who can provide that expertise,” he said. “And that’s going to be more headcount growth, more revenue growth for the firm.”

Armstrong Teasdale welcomed two “profit sharing partners” to its St. Louis office last year.

The profit-sharing initiative was started in 2025, according to managing partner Rick Engel. He said the goal is to motivate partners to increase growth for the firm by allowing them to share in its success in a way that directly impacts their pay.

While it has only been active for a year, the program has been incredibly successful and the firm plans to continue the program, he said.

Cordell & Cordell has seen an increase in national growth, despite smaller gains in Missouri.

The firm was founded in the state 35 years ago and has traditionally focused on family law, firm CEO Joe Breda said. In 2025, the firm added one new partner to its Missouri offices, recognizing 15 new partners nationwide.

Cordell & Cordell places emphasis on talent development and recruitment, Breda said. That includes dedicating resources and energy into the firm’s summer associate program and prioritizing the law school to firm pipeline. The firm also offers a program dubbed “Cordell College” that offers training and education to attorneys all over the country as they hone their trial skills.

Setbacks in Missouri

Chris Hohn, chair of Thompson Coburn, said the firm added new partners strategically to grow its expanding practice areas. Specifically, the firm added three lateral hires from Epstein Becker Green in its LA office to add to the labor and employment and wage and hour class action litigation practice. This is especially important in the southern California marketplace and to the LA office where Thompson Coburn hopes to expand its footprint.

Thompson Coburn had a few additions to its St. Louis office in its corporate securities and business litigation practices, including some promotions and a new hire.

The firm grew by four new partners in Missouri, welcoming 22 nationwide.

“We continue to look for strategic adds in Missouri but also acknowledge that it’s more challenging for us to grow in Missouri just because of the market presence that we have. It’s a little more challenging to grow due to conflicts,” Hohn said. “So we don’t see the same growth in our Missouri market as we do in some of our other markets, but we are continuing to focus on adding to core areas in St. Louis and in Southern Illinois as well, as we try and continue to build strength on strength.”

Hohn sees particular challenges to growth in Missouri compared to the firm’s other markets because while he acknowledges the city is still an incredible metro area and has a lot going for it, larger corporations and Fortune 500 companies have moved out of the area, he said.

“St. Louis is a tougher place to grow, just because the legal work is not expanding at the same rates as it is in other markets,” Hohn said. “So, if you compare St. Louis to Dallas for example, I mean in Dallas, the Dallas business community and the legal market is growing at a very rapid pace. Whereas in St. Louis, I would say it is not growing at that at that level, which makes it more competitive and more challenging to grow in the St. Louis metro area.”

Hohn said the firm has recently grown the size of its associate counsel ranks by 15 percent. But the unknown impact of AI on the industry may cause the firm to slow growth in this area.

“AI’s already having an impact; it will continue to have an impact, and that may mean that our associate classes are a little bit smaller in future years,” Hohn said. “So, that’s a really challenging thing to try and put our finger on the pulse of, just because I don’t think anyone can predict exactly how it will impact hiring, other than to say, I think it will impact hiring.”

Engel said what has Armstrong Teasdale on its guard are the geopolitics we are seeing as we move into 2026. The uncertainty associated with these world events can derail even the best-made plans, as firms saw during the pandemic.

“You just never know where that new, exciting or interesting thing is going to come from, whether it’s a pro or con, helpful or hindrance to the growth that you anticipate,” he said. “It’s that uncertainty.”

Still, Engel remains positive about the future of the firm’s growth and encourages all firms to be nimble.

“The unknowns that are out there are actually very challenging,” Engel said. “Challenging in a very positive and potentially concerning way, but really a very positive way. If you place yourself to be nimble and you’re not rigid, then you’re going to succeed.”

Nationally, firms are seeing growth. The ABA reported in its December 2025 analysis that for the first time since 2020, the U.S. lawyer population has increased significantly — rising from 1.35 million in 2024 to 1.37 million last year.

The Midwest has remained relatively stable, the ABA found, with a small 1.4 percent decrease over 10 years.

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 2025 after last year’s list and announcements ending in early January. As a result, our list may not match firms’ internal counts.

Partners on the Kansas side of the Kansas City metropolitan area as well as the Illinois side of the St. Louis region are counted as Missouri attorneys. Newly hired associates, of-counsel and non-partner attorneys are not included in our numbers.

Freelance researcher Jennie Goodman contributed to this report.