The Responsibility Factor, AKA the partner-associate ratio
The levels of responsibility associates enjoy (or don't) is not easily summarized in a figure; each firm has its own style of work with its own unique responsibilities. This basic ratio showing how much partner exposure each associate gets favors the firms outside Manhattan, but let's remember that the adrenaline-fueled New York market offers associates no end of high-stakes work. So this table gives a basic idea of how a firm staffs its teams, but for a more nuanced perspective, the Inside View merits a read. It also helps you appreciate the likelihood of making partner.
Firms | Partners | Associates | Leverage |
Adam Leitman Bailey | 16 | 9 | 1.78 |
Akin Gump | 249 | 218 | 1.14 |
Allen & Overy | 91 | 229 | 0.4 |
Alston & Bird | 372 | 397 | 0.94 |
Arnold & Porter | 281 | 476 | 0.59 |
Ashurst | 14 | 24 | 0.58 |
Axinn | 30 | 53 | 0.57 |
Baker Botts | 227 | 264 | 0.86 |
Bracewell | 147 | 142 | 1.04 |
Brown Rudnick | 104 | 74 | 1.41 |
Cadwalader | 109 | 185 | 0.59 |
Cahill | 72 | 155 | 0.46 |
Choate | 97 | 106 | 0.92 |
Cleary Gottlieb | 98 | 396 | 0.25 |
Clifford Chance | 83 | 255 | 0.33 |
Cooley | 333 | 736 | 0.45 |
Covington & Burling | 278 | 663 | 0.42 |
Cozen O'Connor | 505 | 182 | 2.77 |
Cravath | 100 | 370 | 0.27 |
Crowell & Moring | 240 | 286 | 0.84 |
Davis Polk & Wardwell | 142 | 629 | 0.23 |
Debevoise & Plimpton | 123 | 512 | 0.24 |
Dechert | 241 | 466 | 0.52 |
DLA Piper | 604 | 660 | 0.92 |
Duane Morris | 353 | 233 | 1.52 |
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath | 493 | 391 | 1.26 |
Finnegan | 111 | 116 | 0.96 |
Fish & Richardson | 212 | 118 | 1.8 |
Foley & Lardner | 497 | 470 | 1.06 |
Foley Hoag | 144 | 183 | 0.79 |
Fox Rothschild | 646 | 287 | 2.25 |
Freshfields | 65 | 259 | 0.25 |
Fried, Frank | 163 | 484 | 0.34 |
Gibson, Dunn | 395 | 1010 | 0.39 |
Goodwin | 503 | 799 | 0.63 |
Greenberg Glusker | |||
Greenberg Traurig | 1075 | 823 | 1.31 |
Gunderson | 118 | 244 | 0.48 |
Haynes and Boone | 270 | 230 | 1.17 |
Herbert Smith Freehills | 15 | 27 | 0.56 |
Hogan Lovells US | 334 | 471 | 0.71 |
Holland & Knight | 1097 | 639 | 1.72 |
Holwell Shuster & Goldberg | 18 | 31 | 0.58 |
Hunton Andrews Kurth | 323 | 521 | 161 |
Irell & Manella | 26 | 31 | 0.84 |
Jackson Walker | 297 | 175 | 1.7 |
Jenner & Block | 203 | 225 | 0.9 |
Jones Day | 593 | 783 | 0.76 |
K&L Gates | 639 | 518 | 1.23 |
Kasowitz | 83 | 126 | 0.66 |
Katten | 319 | 258 | 1.24 |
King & Spalding | 460 | 628 | 0.73 |
Kirkland | 1224 | 1577 | 0.78 |
Kramer Levin | 113 | 224 | 0.5 |
Latham & Watkins | 663 | 1671 | 0.4 |
Linklaters | 36 | 109 | 0.33 |
Mayer Brown | 466 | 523 | 0.89 |
McDermott | 536 | 390 | 1.37 |
Milbank | 126 | 404 | 0.31 |
Mintz Levin | 258 | 272 | 0.95 |
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius | 651 | 889 | 0.73 |
Morrison & Foerster | 251 | 468 | 0.54 |
Munger, Tolles & Olson | 88 | 107 | 0.82 |
Nelson Mullins | 536 | 334 | 1.6 |
Norton Rose Fulbright | 307 | 299 | 1.03 |
O'Melveny | 235 | 470 | 0.5 |
Orrick | 384 | 595 | 0.65 |
Patterson Belknap | 52 | 87 | 0.6 |
Paul Hastings | 261 | 489 | 0.53 |
Paul, Weiss | 172 | 625 | 0.28 |
Perkins Coie | 526 | 543 | 0.97 |
Pillsbury | 289 | 354 | 0.82 |
Polsinelli | 537 | 319 | 1.68 |
Proskauer Rose | 240 | 389 | 0.62 |
Reed Smith | 471 | 453 | 1.04 |
Richards, Layton & Finger | 77 | 93 | 0.83 |
Ropes & Gray | 284 | 927 | 0.31 |
Schulte Roth & Zabel | 89 | 185 | 0.48 |
Seward & Kissel | 47 | 76 | 0.62 |
Seyfarth Shaw | 427 | 256 | 1.67 |
Shearman & Sterling | 126 | 255 | 0.49 |
Sheppard, Mullin | 404 | 413 | 0.98 |
Sidley Austin | 574 | 1079 | 0.53 |
Simpson Thacher | 221 | 800 | 0.28 |
Skadden | 261 | 807 | 0.32 |
Sterne, Kessler | 73 | 59 | 1.24 |
Sullivan & Cromwell | 143 | 447 | 0.32 |
Vedder Price | 154 | 131 | 1.18 |
Venable | 392 | 294 | 1.33 |
Vinson & Elkins | 189 | 381 | 0.5 |
Weil | 204 | 573 | 0.36 |
Wiley Rein | 117 | 69 | 1.7 |
Willkie Farr | 284 | 531 | 0.53 |
WilmerHale | 253 | 637 | 0.4 |
Wilson Sonsini | 279 | 630 | 0.44 |
Winston & Strawn | 352 | 444 | 0.79 |
Firms not listed did not disclose their headcount numbers.