The distant prospect of partnership has lost its value as a retention tool, leaving law firms scrambling to find new reasons for associates to stick around, says Ross Todd
When Arnold & Porter’s director of professional development, Caren Ulrich Stacy, started working in law firm recruiting in the mid-1990s, she says there was one question she could count on hearing from every incoming asso-ciate, be it a new law school recruit or a potential lateral hire: how long does it take to make partner here? Today, Ulrich Stacy says, it goes largely unasked. “I have maybe had that question once in the past five years,” she says.
