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An independent benchmark for leadership, culture and the realities of partnership today
Imagine being able to understand how the partner experience at your firm compares with that of your peers across the sector.
For the first time, firms can access a credible, independent benchmark of what partners themselves are thinking – about leadership, workload, remuneration, culture, the future of the profession and the experience of partnership today. Crucially, this allows firms to look beyond their internal assumptions and see how their partners’ responses align with or diverge from those at comparable firms.
This survey will become a trusted, recurring benchmark for those who want a clearer sense of how their partnership is feeling – and whether this aligns with the culture and expectations the firm believes it is projecting.
TBD Marketing’s annual Partners Survey offers law-firm leaders an external perspective on what is happening inside their firm.
It provides a more candid and market-anchored understanding of partner sentiment than internal surveys, ad-hoc conversations or anecdotal feedback can reliably offer.
The survey will run from early December to the end of January. We will publish a free, top-level findings report early in the spring once the data has been analysed.
Simply: please encourage your partners to take part.
Understanding the outlook, concerns and ambitions of your partnership is fundamental to good governance. Decisions made without external context – or made solely on the basis of internal survey data – risk being incomplete. An independent benchmark enables you to spot emerging trends earlier and respond to them with confidence.
If we receive enough responses from your firm, we can provide you with your own anonymised dataset, benchmarked against both competitors and the wider market. There is also a cost saving if you opt in to receive this report before the survey goes live.
We will give you a survey link to circulate to your partners. If you would like supportive text from us for your internal communications, we can provide this too. High response rates begin with clear leadership endorsement.
Independent benchmarking – with the market context internal surveys cannot supply.
The premise is straightforward: understanding what motivates partners, what challenges they are facing and what they value most is a strategic necessity.
Most firms run internal surveys, but few have the external perspective needed to interpret the results with confidence. With partners from across the market answering the same set of questions, the TBD Partners Survey provides you with meaningful comparative data to support better leadership decisions.
Participation is free – and you will automatically receive the top-level findings report.
If you would like a bespoke report benchmarking your firm’s responses against your peer group or the wider market, there is a fee based on your firm’s partner headcount.
A small number of firms will also be able to add their own questions to the standard survey. If you are interested, please speak to us as soon as possible.
Each report is designed to help leadership teams understand what is really going on inside their partnership, and to test whether long-held assumptions stand up to scrutiny.
Because this survey is not about compliance – and it is not shaped by what leadership hopes to hear.
Instead, we are starting with the questions partners themselves are asking:
“What is the reality of being a partner today?”
“What pressures are shaping the experience?”
“What is driving satisfaction, motivation or concern?”
The survey looks across firms, practice areas and regions to build a clear, unfiltered picture of the partner experience in 2025.
No. To give partners the confidence to speak openly, all responses are gathered and analysed confidentially.
Independence matters: when people feel secure, they describe what is happening with greater honesty.
We are interested in patterns, themes and issues emerging across the market – not in attributing views to individuals.
No.
We will benchmark your firm against the wider dataset, but we do not release other firms’ responses or insights.
Partners from the Top 200 UK law firms are completing the survey, whether or not their firms formally enrol.
Magic Circle, Silver Circle, national firms, regional practices and boutiques are all included. Comparisons will be made like-for-like – no skewed data or mismatched peer groups.
The aim is to give the profession a clear, credible and genuinely helpful picture.
The survey will run regardless of firm sign-ups. Partners are already registering their interest independently.
Would you like to be a firm that encourages your partners to share their views openly, or not?
Take part in the TBD Partners Survey
We will use the details you provide below only to:
Your information will not be used to identify you in the survey, and it will not be used or shared for any other purpose.
Simon wrote the Associate and Partner surveys for Legal Business long before digital submissions took over. He has since worked with firms, journalists and legal comms teams across the UK, and is trusted to treat insight and data with the seriousness they deserve.
This is not a magazine project. It is being done because the industry needs an independent benchmark – and because TBD is not an HR consultancy, we can report independently, without conflict or ulterior motive.
No. Responses remain confidential.
A clearer view of how partnership is experienced across the market – and where your firm sits within that picture.
Internal surveys can be useful, but they generally reflect the firm’s own assumptions. This survey provides independent, comparable data from across the sector, giving you a more accurate sense of the pressures, priorities and expectations shaping partnership in 2025.
Fifteen minutes of your time contributes to a benchmark designed to support better leadership decisions – at your firm and across the profession.
