Abstract
This article examines the role that gender plays in promotion-to-partner decisions for one of the most storied of American law firms, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Wachtell's unusual hiring, compensation and billing practices allow us to isolate the role that gender bias plays in promotion decisions in a way that is typically hard to do. Once key endogenous features are aligned, we find no evidence of gender bias in the probability of making partner. The primary determinant of promotion at Wachtell is individual performance, with gender, business cycle conditions, age, and specific expertise not playing significant roles.