Harrison explains that law firms look for candidates who generate the most business and bill the most hours when making partners.
Hours are not just about working hard, but also about who is willing to give you work.
During recessions, firms may make fewer partners but still promote those who have built or are building books of business to prevent them from leaving.
Making partners during a recession also demonstrates to the market that the firm is healthy.
There is always room at the top for the best people who can generate business and bill the most hours.
Transcript
Transcript:
This year a lot of firms did make a lot of partners, which I think they were probably planning on doing even before the recession. But what I would say is people are always going to get promoted. What the firms do is they look for people that are generating the most business and bringing in the most hours.
Hours are not just a question of how hard you work. They're also a question of who's willing to give you work because they think you do good work for their clients. It's a smart thing for them to make you a partner because you're probably gonna do that and be able to impress clients in the future.
The other thing that happens in recessions is there always are attorneys inside of firms that are building books of business or have built books of business. Those people are also made partner as well, and the firms are worried about them leaving. They do have to show the market that they're healthy. During recessions, even some of the largest law firms this year for example, have made 20 partners.
It may make one or two partners in a bad market. It depends, but there's always room at the top for the best people. And the best people are either the people that are billing the most hours or most likely to have business and are most likely to continue doing that.
