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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Early retired Biglaw partner here.  My abbreviated story:  I was counsel for several years before being made partner.  I wasn’t promoted because the firm decided after so many years that I was actually a brilliant writer and highly skilled practitioner who billed lots of hours and they just hadn’t notice.   Nope.  They promoted me only because - more out of dumb luck than anything else - a big client fell into my lap.

That’s how Biglaw works.  [/quote]

Reminds me of a Star Trek episode called "Tapestry".  Some of the dialog was "Throughout your career you've had lofty goals, but you've never been willing to do what's necessary to attain them." and "If you want to get ahead, you have to take chances, stand out in a crowd, get noticed."

Sounds like the PP needs to do more to get noticed.  Self-promotion is the only sort of promotion that is on the horizon.  There are plenty of opportunities to get noticed in law.  Speaking at conferences is an easy way.  Find some conferences that might be of interest to your in-house counsel clients and ask them if they want to go in on a speaker proposal (it will help promote them as well, which is a good thing - but offer to do all of the work on the slides yourself).  Speak at 4-5 conferences a year, put pre- and post-speaking announcements on your LinkedIn page, send an email to some of the partners in your firm about your recent speaking opportunity. etc....  Wash, rinse, repeat.[/quote]

I see people do this, it makes perfect sense, I know I should, too, but still ... I don't. It's my own fault, of course. I'm a generalist, which doesn't translate naturally to that, imo. The firm isn't wrong to think that I won't be a big originator, though I also see others make partner who also don't seem much better at it individually [b]but rather are just in a practice group or attached to a senior partner that can provide them with a steadier stream.[/b] 
[/quote]

Well, the bolded text is not where you are, so stop looking through the fence at how green the grass is on the other side.  Neither is it likely that you'll have a big client drop into your lap like the PP.  Accept the fact that you're in the dirt and it's up to you to grow something.  Choosing to do nothing - like you are now - isn't an option.  Furthermore, you're not really a generalist, so don't use that as an excuse.  You have a specialty, even if you don't see it that way.  In fact, the partners in your BIGLAW firm see it and they're paying you for it.  But to them, that skill isn't enough to make you a partner.  Rather, they're keeping you around because you make them money, and more importantly, do the work for their clients they don't want to do (but which needs to be done).

To be brutally honest, you seem to want to be a partner without doing what's necessary to achieve it.  Either do the work, or forget about being a partner.[/quote]

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