Will Big Law Firms Actually Grow Their Equity Ranks in 2026?

Despite many Am Law 200 law firms growing with laterals and large partner promotion classes, equity partner ranks in the industry contracted by 0.5% in the first nine months of 2025, according to the latest industry figures.

In other words, partnership growth was mostly in firms' nonequity tier, where firms grew by 6% in 2025. Will equity partner ranks actually expand in 2026? Law firm leaders are optimistic about it—but industry observers are more cautious.

The Citi/Hildebrandt 2026 Client Advisory, published on Thursday, found that 82% of surveyed large firm leaders said they planned to increase their equity ranks over the next two years, compared with 73% saying the same in last year’s report.

It’s always firm-dependent, observers said. But some of the optimism in growing in equity partner ranks is a genuine desire to grow and take market share when there's slow demand growth, though that’s always easier said than done. Some of it may also be messaging to current lawyers about a chance for promotions or potential lateral additions, other observers said.

Also, more firms are eyeballing mergers and looking for more ways to win even larger slices of clients’ business. Equity partners, on average, also contribute more on average to firm profitability than associates, counsel and income partners.

"One of the key takeaways is, in a modest growth environment, firms will want to buy growth, and take more market share through the growth of their equity partners,” said Gretta Rusanow, head of advisory services for Citi’s Global Wealth at Work Law Firm Group. “That is how they’re going to outperform their competitors in the market.”

Regardless, the long-term trends show equity partner growth hasn’t been happening at a significant clip. From 2019 through 2024, according to Citi, 68% of firms surveyed said they’d increased their equity ranks—but total growth there was actually a “modest” average yearly rate of 0.7% across large firms.

Reality and intentions often diverge.

“I think one thing to bear in mind on this, is it’s a projection,” Rusanow said. “It’s telling you about their sentiment. Their intention is to add to their equity partner population. The other piece is—you don’t know if they’re going to lose people as well.”

Cautious About Profits
Meanwhile, at a time when profits are uncertain, law firms continue to be motivated to keep tight control of equity partner growth to grow net income. Equity partner ranks have been flat, even when many expect to see double-digit profit growth in 2025, according to industry surveys.

The trends also vary by segment. In particular, the Citi survey found that Am Law 51-100 and Second Hundred firms in 2025 increased salaried lawyer headcount while contracting their equity partner headcount. As a result, they increased leverage by 4.4% and 5.1% respectively.

Some firms are expanding equity tiers, though in most cases it’s modest, said Laura Terrell, an executive coach and law firm consultant, in an interview.

“And the trend is still much more to focus on the nonequity tier as most large firms have seen that as a way to broaden the partnership and bring more people into the partnership,” she said.

Mark Masson, managing partner at Lotis Blue, added that firms are always cautious about making big waves of equity partners because it’s such a big investment.

“It is a big wad of money. It’s a big chunk of your profits that you are putting into one person’s hands,” he said this week. “So doing that for a lot of people really uses a lot of your discretionary profit in investment in individuals. So you gotta be sure.”

He added that some firm leaders responding to surveys or interviews also want to telegraph to their junior lawyers and to potential lateral partners that there are opportunities for them in the equity tier.

“The uptick is the message to the market—laterals, associates, any potential combination partners—is ‘We are open to that, and you have an opportunity,’” he said.

Several large law firms this fall announced record or near-record partner promotions, but many of them don’t say publicly whether those partners are in the equity or nonequity tier.

Ropes & Gray is one of the firms that doesn’t have a two-tier partnership, and this fall announced a near-record 21 new equity partners. The firm promoted 24 lawyers to partner in 2021, and 12 in 2024.

Mayer Brown, which is a two-tier partnership firm, also said they’ve made significant lateral investments this year, and that equity tier growth is part of that. “Our lateral growth is designed to strengthen and position the firm for long-term success, “ said Mayer Brown chair Jon Van Gorp, in a statement. “Expanding the equity tier is part of that strategy, and we expect measured strategic growth in 2025 as these investments deliver results.”

Reprinted with permission from the December 12 edition of The American Lawyer © 2025 ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved. Further duplication without permission is prohibited.