Junior solicitors at the City’s top law firms are waiting longer than ever to become partners, with the average lawyer now working for almost nine years before promotion.

An analysis of this year’s partner promotions at the UK's ten largest firms shows the average wait is now 8.8 years, up from 8.2 last year.

The increase means that with the exception of 2006, when the average fell marginally, the wait for partnership has grown longer each year since 2004, according to research by Legal Week, a trade magazine.

Of the top City firms surveyed, Slaughter and May has the quickest partnership track with lawyers working for an average of seven years before promotion. Lawyers at Norton Rose have the longest wait at 9.6 years.

The bulk of the top firms keep their junior lawyers at the associate rank for around eight years before inviting them to join the partnership.

Despite the introduction of alternatives such as counsel and managing associate, partnership is still seen as the ultimate goal for most lawyers at City firms.

It can also be extremely lucrative with high performing partners at the largest firms regularly earning over £1 million a year. The most senior deal makers are reported to earn upwards of £2 million a year.

However, in addition to the increased wait, partnership has become less lucrative than it once was.

Many firms have scrapped the traditional all-equity "lockstep" structure, in which profits were shared equally depending on seniority, and instead pay the bulk of their junior partners a fixed salary.

Tony Williams, principal of law firm consultancy Jomati, warned that making associates wait longer for partnerships could lead to recruitment or retention problems. "Increasingly partnership is seen by many younger lawyers as too distant and too uncertain to justify staying with a firm if other more immediately interesting and remunerative choices are available," he said.

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