At the start of October Kirkland & Ellis announced their latest cohort of Partner promotions, with a record 205 attorneys making the cut.

The number of Associates the firm elevates to Partner has been increasing year on year, setting new industry records each time. This year's figure is, yet again, the largest class to be promoted to Partnership and significantly eclipses the number of promotions handed out by Kirkland's nearest AM Law 100 rivals.

All of Kirkland's US offices increased their Partner numbers within this round of promotions.

The firm's largest offices elevated the highest total number of Associates:

• New York City = 49 promotions
• Chicago = 40 promotions
• Washington, DC = 17 promotions

While the offices with the highest levels of Partner growth relative to their size were:

• Salt Lake City = +36%
• Bay Area = +24%
• Boston = +20%
  

There were 39 Partner promotions among the firm's international offices. The 26 in London means that it remains Kirkland's largest office outside of the US.

There were a handful of promotions across Munich and Paris to complete the round of European activity. While the Shanghai (+25%) and Hong Kong (+18%) offices had the largest relative increases to their Partner numbers.

One of the reasons behind Kirkland's much larger Partner population is the promotion model they operate. The firm tends to promote Associates with 5-10 years of experience to Partner, whereas their peer firms typically hand out promotions after 9-14 years of experience.

This cohort of promoted Partners are a mixture of homegrown talent, who have spent the majority of their careers at Kirkland and lateral hires, who have been poached from other firms as Associates a few years into their careers.

Where this year's batch of promoted attorneys began their careers varies depending on the location. Among the US based promotions there is an even split between homegrown talent and lateral hires, but among the firm's international offices there is a clear tendency towards lateral hiring.

The London office is very reliant on bolstering its Associate ranks with lateral hires, with 85% of this year's promotions being attorneys that began their careers at a rival firm. As a US firm operating in a very competitive local market this makes some sense. In fact, we recently explored the stiff competition between US & UK firms vying for London's legal talent in a recent data insights article.

Out of all the US offices, New York City leans the most heavily towards hiring Associates from other firms. Chicago meanwhile, being the firm's headquarters and largest office, is the only Kirkland location to have a greater number of homegrown attorneys.

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