- U.S. & Americas
- Promotions
- New York, Washington DC
Cleary's 15-partner 2027 class is down from 20, with first California promotions
Cleary Gottlieb has promoted 15 lawyers to partner effective 1 January 2027, down from 20 the year before, according to Legal Business. Nine of the new partners are in the United States, including four in New York and three in Washington DC. One is in London and five are elsewhere in EMEA. The promotions bring Cleary's worldwide partnership to 257.
Two of the US promotions, capital markets lawyer Natalia Rezai and M&A lawyer Pierre Allegaert, are the firm's first-ever partner promotions on the West Coast since it opened offices in San Francisco and Silicon Valley in 2021 (Legal Business). Managing partner Jeff Karpf said the new partners "advise our clients on their most complex and commercially important business matters and represent the excellence and ambition of our firm."
M&A and antitrust take eight of 15 as Cleary builds California and London
M&A and antitrust each accounted for four of the 15 promotions, more than half the class. The rest are in capital markets, global funds, IP, technology and data, real estate, international trade and national security, and litigation and arbitration (Legal Business). The two California partners work in capital markets and M&A, the corporate practices Cleary has been building in its young Bay Area office.
The expansion is recent and has relied on lateral hires. Cleary opened its first California base by hiring antitrust litigator Heather Nyong'o from WilmerHale. It opened in Palo Alto and Silicon Valley, with San Francisco to follow (Global Legal Post). In January 2025, it added capital markets partner Justin "J.T." Ho in the Bay Area (Cleary Gottlieb). Promoting partners in capital markets and M&A there shows where Cleary expects its West Coast corporate practice to grow.
London has followed a different pattern. Antitrust lawyer Lanto Sheridan was the only London promotion in the 2027 round, down from two the year before (Legal Business). Cleary has continued hiring laterally in the city, adding funds partners David Christmas in May 2026 and Nathan McKinnon in June 2026 (Cleary Gottlieb). In October 2025, it brought in Stephen Nicolas from Paul Hastings to launch a European real estate practice (Global Legal Post). The antitrust and IP promotions also follow lateral activity in those practices. Cleary added a five-partner IP litigation team from Latham & Watkins across New York, Washington DC and the Bay Area (Global Legal Post). Four competition partners left for Kirkland & Ellis, after which Cleary began exploring lateral antitrust hires in Brussels and London (Global Competition Review).
Cleary's 2024 move to a non-equity tier and shrinking Big Law classes
The smaller round follows a change in partnership structure. Cleary ended its historic pure-equity partnership in October 2024 and created a non-equity partner tier. Then-managing partner Michael Gerstenzang said the change would "create more opportunities in promotion and development" (Global Legal Post). Cravath, Paul Weiss and WilmerHale had all added non-equity tiers during the preceding year (Law360). The new tier gives firms room to advance lawyers without expanding equity, a trend reporting ties to narrowing equity routes.
Cleary is not the only firm with a smaller class. Partner promotion classes at major US firms shrank for a second consecutive year, falling by an average of 4 percent in 2024 after a 2 percent drop in 2023 (Legal.io). Equity ranks at the top-100 firms by revenue fell 1 percent, while non-equity partner ranks grew more than 5 percent (Bloomberg Law). The pipeline into those classes is narrowing too. Firms with more than 500 lawyers hired 7.5 percent fewer entry-level associates from the Class of 2025, the first Big Law decline in entry-level hiring since 2014 (Above the Law).
Some firms went the other way. White & Case elected 47 new partners effective 1 January 2027 across 21 offices. US lawyers made up 40 percent of the class, the firm's largest US group since 2022 (White & Case). Latham & Watkins promoted 36 associates to partner on the same date, bringing its 2026 new-partner total to 58 (Pulse 2.0).
Cleary's 15-partner class is concentrated in M&A and antitrust. It includes the firm's first West Coast promotions and comes under its new two-tier structure. The facts suggest Cleary is advancing its newest corporate office while, on the reported trend, routes to equity narrow. That comes as promotion classes have declined for two years and the associate pipeline has contracted, though the pattern differs by firm. White & Case and Latham moved in the other direction on the same promotion date.
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