How To Become A Senior Partner: What It Is and Career Path

What is a senior partner and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

The term partner is often associated with law firms. Partners are lawyers with a proven track record in the firm. They are also often tenured employees who have been loyal to the firm. They are promoted from junior ranks. This means that there is an upgrade on the type of cases they receive as well. If a law firm partner is doing well, they may get promoted to an even higher position. This would be the Senior Partner role.

Senior Partners are tenured employees with a stellar track record who has brought in a lot of profit for the firm. In this role, they are also given the opportunity to work with the firm's top clients and best cases. They handle very important people and are expected to be the best people to win the case. They are also often the selling point of the firm, meaning that the senior partners have already made a name for themselves that the firm can bring in clients using their name.

If you are an aspiring lawyer, this is definitely one of your career goals. If you are a great lawyer, you will probably be able to reach this level in a decade. Of course, passion and grit play a big role in your success.

ScoreSenior PartnerUS Average

Salary

8.1

Avg. Salary $118,406

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.5

Growth rate 10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.23%

Asian 8.15%

Black or African American 3.04%

Hispanic or Latino 8.67%

Unknown 5.32%

White 74.58%

Gender

female 36.95%

male 63.05%

Age - 38

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 38

Stress level

7.5

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.5

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a senior partner

Explore senior partner education requirements

Most common senior partner degrees

Bachelor's

62.5 %

Master's

17.2 %

Associate

8.5 %

Start to develop specific senior partner skills

Skills	Percentages
Excellent Organizational	11.01%
Lead Generation	9.63%
ROI	8.79%
Channel Marketing	7.41%
Healthcare	5.20%

Complete relevant senior partner training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New senior partners learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a senior partner based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real senior partner resumes.

Research senior partner duties and responsibilities

Founded and manage a successful CIO consulting firm.
Lead to successful portfolio consolidation plan of systems into a single platform solution.
Recruit, train and manage ISO partnerships with low to high risk portfolios.
Plan, develop, and manage SOX and outsource internal audit engagements for community base banks and non-profit clients.

Get senior partner experience

Generally, it takes 8-10 years to become a senior partner. The most common roles before becoming a senior partner include vice president, partner team lead and human resources manager.

Prepare your senior partner resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your senior partner resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a senior partner resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable senior partner resume templates

Build a professional senior partner resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your senior partner resume.

Apply for senior partner jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a senior partner job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do senior partners rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Senior partner reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Sep 2019

Pros

Independence in working when I want and litigating cases I want to handle.

Cons

Business development sucks. Hard to have a life, litigate a full caseload, and then be expected to bring in new clients constantly. The business side is horrible for those who just want to practice law.