If you have been passed over for promotion to partner by your current firm it is understandable that you might want to try and become a partner elsewhere. For the hiring firm, it is often a lower risk/less costly hire with the benefit that the partner can grow with the firm, and hiring at this level remains popular.

If you are a senior associate looking to move your practice to another firm to gain partnership, how do you achieve it? A good tip for associates at all levels is to always have your business plan up to date, whether or not you are looking for an imminent move. While each plan is unique to each individual candidate, you will always need to consider the following areas:

Think about your client base. How diverse is it, and to what extent is it dependent on one or two key clients? How long have you worked with them, how loyal are they to you? Are they picking up the phone to you directly or the partner in the team? What billings have you generated? Have you been instrumental in bringing these clients on board and keeping them? What would happen to your practice if you left the firm? Would your clients be happy to work with someone else?

How can you grow your own business and the business of your practice area? Are there any aspects that are currently under-serviced or can you identify a niche area of expertise that can be developed? Are there any new trends that might impact your work? What are your competitors doing and how can you stay ahead of them? How does your practice generate work for other areas?

Compile an ongoing list of your contacts and connections and rank them in terms of strength of relationship. How important are they to your business and practice, both now and in the future? Who do you need to get closer to and who is missing?

Keep an ongoing record of matters, cases, projects or any other transactions you have worked on, and what you actually did on them. You need to know these matters inside out. Doing this can also help you complete conflicts forms at a new firm if required.

Once you have decided the time is right to go for partnership at a new firm, what do you need to think about next?

You need to demonstrate to a prospective employer what you can bring is different to what they already have. The new firm may have to justify bringing you in as a partner rather than promoting internally. You also need to be able to explain why you were passed over at your current firm – e.g. because of an over-leverage of associates to partners. What does your practice require in order to grow and what kind of support do you need to achieve this?

You need to demonstrate your ‘following’. This means your contacts, your client relationships, repeat business you have achieved, your ability to win new work, the billings you are likely to be able to generate. While ‘followings’ are not a guarantee of success, it is very important to have a demonstrable track record. Ultimately, what would your key clients do if you left? Would they instruct you at a new firm if there was sufficient flexibility around fees? Followings are also not necessarily based on immediate billings – you can also demonstrate how you would add value in the long term.

If you have specialist skills or knowledge a new firm doesn’t currently have, there may be less emphasis on a ‘following’. As well as demonstrating your knowledge about your own practice area and where it is going, remember that moving to a new firm as a partner can involve dozens of meetings with partners in different practice areas, and you will need to spell out what you will do to generate work for their teams, not just your own.

The next thing to do is talk to a trusted recruiter to help formalise your plan and check it for strengths and weaknesses. We know all types of law firm well and can advise as to what they will be looking for in your plan and who you need to win over, not just in your target practice area, but also where the balance of power lies within the firm.

If you have just been passed over for promotion for the first time, we may advise you to wait it out until the next round. If this is the case, you need to look at the promotion trends of your firm over the last five years. What is their track record for internal promotion versus bringing in laterals? Do you have a ‘sponsor partner’ who is plugged in to the management?

It is often useful to speak to people that have left to join the partner track elsewhere if they received the same feedback you had, as ultimately your current firm may continue to make empty promises and you would be best to leave now.  Building long term relationships is important to us and we will always advise you on options that will benefit your career in the long term.

At Marsden,  we are here to help you at every stage of the recruitment process and act as trusted career counsellors to help you on your journey to partnership and beyond.