BigLaw

Big Law’s Capital Squeeze Sees Partners Pay Up, Firms Power On

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The legal profession has always had a peculiar relationship with money. Partners, after all, are supposed to be owners of their firms, yet increasingly, they’re being asked to prove their commitment with their wallets.

Welcome to the world of capital contributions, where making equity partner isn’t just about your billable hours anymore. It’s about how much cash you can pony up to join the club.
Here’s the thing about Big Law’s approach to partner capital: there isn’t one.

Survey data from about 80 Am Law 200 firms reveals a system that’s, to put it charitably, all over the shop.
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Can the Magic Circle’s Most Profitable Firm Survive Its Own Success?

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Slaughter & May future - LawFuel

Slaughter and May’s Billion-Dollar Dilemma – Expand or PerishJohn Bowie, LawFuel publisherSlaughter and May, a member of the UK’s elite Magic Circle, has proudly charted a different course to its contemporaries. Rebuffing endless international expansion and a bigger partnership, it has maintained a tightly-knit operation. But is it sustainable? Where Slaughters’ rivals have worked hard to

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What’s Behind The BigLaw Litigation Hiring Surge?

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BigLaw litigation - growth stats, LawFuel

The masters of the M&A universe are discovering what the rest of us have known all along – that litigation pays, and it doesn’t evaporate when the dealmakers take a sabbatical.​

Fresh data from Bloomberg Law reveals that some of the legal industry’s most ludicrously profitable firms, the ones that built fortunes advising private equity titans, are now scrambling to stockpile litigators like they’re preparing for the apocalypse.

Four heavyweights – Kirkland & Ellis, Paul Weiss, Davis Polk, and Paul Hastings – have inflated their litigation benches by at least 22 percnt since early 2024. It is noteworthy that these are firms that climbed to the top of the profitability charts primarily by perfecting the art of billing seven figures for corporate transactions, not courtroom combat.

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Why Is The World’s Richest Law Firm So Quiet About Its New Partners?

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The Silence of the PartnersTom Borman, LawFuel contributing editorKirkland & Ellis, the world’s top-grossing law firm, is playing it close to the vest again, this time with its new partner class. Being loud does not pay like discretion, apparently.As reported by AboveTheLaw, the firm has yet to formally announce or publicly list its 2025 promotions.

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Hot Summer Bonuses At BigLaw Conceal A Secret

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Young lawyer

Following months of market uncertainty, the summer bonus season at BigLaw has exceeded expectations with Milbank’s announcing special bonuses ranging from $6,000 to $25,000 for associates, a cascade of firms has followed suit. But a new trend is also emerging in the way compensation is being handed to associates.

While partners enjoy increased PEP rates with premium work, the competitive world of associate recruitment is seeing some major changes in the way law firms handle the compensation for their top performers at associate level.

The summer bonus season is seeing that trend play out.

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Why Big Law Lawyers Are Walking Away: Exits, Burnout & New Legal Careers

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More Big Law associates and partners are choosing to leave than ever before—citing burnout, lack of advancement and remote-era disconnection sparking a seismic exodus toward in-house, startups and boutique law career paths.

The Big Law conveyor belt, once seen as the golden escalator to prestige and partnership, is creaking under the weight of its own expectations.

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BigLaw’s Pay Party: UK Partners Laugh All the Way to Their Third Homes

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Uk partner pay

Which UK Firm Takes The Top Partner Pay? Magic Circle firms post eye-watering PEP figures while associates wonder if they’ll ever afford London rentJohn Bowie, LawFuel publisherWhat a delightful time to be a BigLaw equity partner in London. While many mortals navigate inflation and mortgage rates that would make a loan shark blush, the legal

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Damian Williams Leaves Paul Weiss in a Move That Screams Politics Over Profits

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Damian williams lawfuel - The major move from Paul Weiss

Damian Williams isn’t just another high-powered litigator making a lateral leap, he’s making waves, raising eyebrows, and possibly laying the groundwork for a pivot into politics. If you’ve been tracking the latest episodes in the “Trump v. Biglaw” saga, you’ll know this isn’t your average career hop. Williams, the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is stepping out of the white-shoe fortress of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP just five months after arriving—and into the arms of Jenner & Block, where he’ll co-chair the litigation department out of their New York office.

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Susman Godfrey Vows to Fight Trump Executive Order

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Trump’s Law Firm Hit List Grows Tom Borman, LawFuel contributing editorWhen the former president decides your firm is next on his legal hit list, you’ve officially joined what might be the most exclusive club no one asked to join. That’s the predicament elite litigation powerhouse Susman Godfrey the litigation boutique that finds itself in as

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