According to the results of the Lawyers Weekly 2006 Partnership Review survey, the average age of lawyers being given the keys to partnership is now just shy of their 38th birthday. Lawyers Weekly sources say expectations of younger lawyers have traditionally been around 30 years of age, eight years off the current mark.

Working on the assumption that most lawyers begin their ascent of the greasy pole somewhere around the age of 24, it appears that slog is roughly 14 years long.

The quickest route to partnership appears to be at Henry Davis York and Phillips Fox, where the average age of new partners is a sprightly 33. At the other end of the spectrum, lawyers at Gadens, Blake Dawson Waldron and Piper Alderman all have to wait until they’re on the wrong side of their 42nd birthday to claim a piece of the equity pie.

The survey also showed that the average age of partners in general was a tad more mature than 44. Deacons and Tresscox had the oldest partners of the 16 firms not too coy to disclose, while Herbert Geer & Rundle and Thomson Playford had the youngest average age at 42.

See Partnership Review on page 18.