For most of Big Law's history, partner pay followed a simple rule: the longer you'd been around, the more you made.

Seniority determined your slice. Loyalty was rewarded. The partnership was, in spirit at least, a club.

That model is being dismantled. Quietly in Australia. And loudly in the US.

Australia's highest-paid partners are doing well. Corrs sits at the top of the local table at around A$7m. Gilbert + Tobin tracks close behind at A$6m. At Allens, Ashurst, HSF and Mallesons, the ceiling hovers around A$5m.

Source: AFR Research (October 2024)

Breaking that mark was, until recently, rare.

In the US, it’s another story.

Kirkland & Ellis reported at least six partners each earning US$25m in a single year. Legal recruiter Sabina Lippman put it plainly: "Twenty million dollars is the new $10 million."

Bloomberg reported some rainmakers topping US$30m. At current exchange rates, that's north of A$40m.

Source: BGC Attorney Search (2025-26)

Another hiring partner said US$20m packages were typically reserved for those bringing in more than US$100m in annual revenue.

That take-home is now approaching CEO territory. Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan made roughly US$36m last year. David Solomon of Goldman Sachs earned around US$31m.

Australia's best-paid partner earns roughly US$4.8m in dollar terms.

It started with private equity.

Firms like Kirkland, Simpson Thacher and Paul, Weiss made early bets on PE clients when few rivals saw them as serious money. Those bets paid off spectacularly. Global PE assets grew more than fivefold since 2007, hitting US$8.7 trillion by 2023. Blackstone alone paid Kirkland US$41.6m in a single year, as a secondary firm.

When one client relationship generates that kind of revenue, the partner holding it becomes extraordinarily valuable. And firms will pay to keep them.

That logic triggered a bidding war.

Kirkland started poaching partners from rivals, and rivals poached back. Multi-year guarantees, signing bonuses, bespoke profit arrangements. Partners became free agents. Certain rainmakers became stars.

Average US partner hourly rates rose 83% over the past decade to more than US$1,100 per hour. The best now bill above US$2,500. That’s chump change compared to Aussie top-tier partner billing rates of around A$1,000 per hour (US$700).

Bigger revenue per hour means bigger pools. Bigger pools mean more capacity to pay up.

Australian firms are adapting, but they're not overhauling.

KWM adjusted its equity point values to reward top billers. Clayton Utz widened its equity ceiling after a partner vote. The direction is toward performance. But the ceiling holds.

Australia's deal market is a fraction of the US. HSF Kramer topped the local M&A tables in 2025 with deals totalling over A$54bn, a strong result locally. Elite US firms operate in a market measured in the hundreds of billions. The personal revenue a single Australian partner can generate is structurally smaller.

Sure, Australian top-end pay will keep rising. A ceiling of A$8m to A$12m over the next decade is plausible.

But a genuine US$20m equivalent, roughly A$28m at current exchange rates, requires something Australia doesn't yet have. Mega-deal flow attributable to individual partners. Rates high enough to fund eight-figure distributions. A lateral market is competitive enough to routinely spark bidding wars over partners and their client books.