Paul Weiss Promotions Surge in First ‘Non-Equity’ Year (1)

Paul Weiss on Friday announced the promotion of 34 new partners, nearly tripling the size of its class after the firm’s chair said it would roll out a non-equity partner tier.

The firm didn’t say how many of the new partners would receive the non-equity designation. Those lawyers are granted the partner title, but don’t share in the firm’s profits in the same way as equity partners.

The tier has swept across the legal industry, a move seen as providing firms with more flexibility in an increasingly competitive, and expensive, market for top talent. Paul Weiss is among a handful of high-profit New York-based firms that have adopted the strategy more recently.

Brad Karp, the firm’s chairman, has said Paul Weiss will continue to promote associates straight to the equity partner tier while also moving some to the non-equity partner status. Few if any firms publicly distinguish between tiers when listing partners.

In a podcast with Quinn Emanuel founder John Quinn, Karp said he was originally opposed to the idea but came around after other firms successfully recruited Paul Weiss’ senior associates by offering them partner titles sooner.

“We’ve never done it before, I don’t know how it’s going to turn out,” Karp told Quinn. “The reason we’re doing it is purely to be competitive with our peers.”

The new class included both equity and “income” partners, a firm spokeswoman confirmed in a statement.

“We maintain exceptionally high standards for promotion to partnership, and each of our new partners exemplifies our firm’s dedication to practice excellence and client service,” the spokeswoman said.

Paul Weiss promoted 12 associates to partner in January this year. The firm made 11 new partners in 2023 and nine in 2022.

The firm’s litigation and M&A departments were the best-represented among the new partners for next year. A total of 12 are litigators and eight are members of the M&A group.