If this year's record intake of new partners is anything to go by then the green shoots of recovery in the legal business market look to be truly blossoming.

The high number of City law firms posting improved figures on last year's partnership promotion round has surprised many legal business analysts.Leading the way is Eversheds with 24 new partners followed by Clifford Chance, Herbert Smith and Linklaters & Paines on 17 -- all significantly up on last year.

Firms such as Lovell White Durrant (eight new partners) are reporting the highest numbers of five years.Robert Martin, legal services consultant at Coopers & Lybrand, whose firm carries out an annual survey on the 'financial management of law firms' believes this year's intakes will even surpass last year's predictions.

'We expected 1995/96 to be a good year and that's what it's turning out to be.

For the first time it appears firms are appointing more partners than they said they would,' he says.Mr Martin says this is significant because firms always say they are going to appoint more partners than they do.

Last year, only 25% of all firms interviewed predicted they would be appointing more partners.

Certainly in the City this proportion has already been exceeded.

But Mr Martin cautions: 'I doubt whether it's a position replicated across the UK.'The frenetic activity in lateral hirings and law firm mergers may have had an impact on the figures.

The Eversheds figure is slightly distorted by the 11 lawyers who joined the firm in the Waltons & Morse merger and another five who have come from other firms.

Eversheds national managing partner Peter Cole commented: 'It reflects a very healthy mix of home grown talents, strategic merger and high quality recruitment from a broad range of our competitors.'Hammonds Suddards' 11 new partners represents nearly double the number made up to partner last year.

The firm's senior partner, John Heller, believes there is now 'real growth in the corporate finance and litigation markets'.Ashurst Morris Crisp senior partner Andrew Soundy, whose firm has made up seven (an increase of two on last year) says his firm is experiencing the busiest time since the boom days of the mid-1980s.

'The last 18 months have seen much more activity in the City amongst larger and traditional players than previously,' he says.Mr Soundy maintains there is a real link between the buoyant numbers of new partnerships being created and a vibrancy in the legal business markets.

In a firm like Ashursts -- which has continued to grow by 10% year on year -- the pressure of ever increasing work is beginning to tell.Mr Soundy says his fee-earners are having to work longer and longer hours.

Last month, Ashursts decided to reward them with an 'exceptional bonus' payment.

Mr Soundy explains: 'I felt it was only fair we shared our success with them.' He will not reveal how much the bonus was but he does say it was 'well received'.

He explains: 'Our toughest challenge in the next 12 months is recruiting new fee-earners.'Mr Martin says other firms are also having to accommodate 'pent-up pressures' which have built up in recent years.

In the last two years, firms simply have not had the strategic business confidence to risk partnership expansion.The regional firms are also enjoying something of a boom time.

Bristol-based law firm Burges Salmon has boosted its partnership from 31 to 38 in its annual intake.

Senior partner David Marsh describes the firm's rise from 22 partners of five years ago to nearly double that in the latest round as 'quite spectacular'.

He points to corporate finance, specialist industry, pensions, financial services, commercial property, power, and private client work as sectors all doing well.Pinsent Curtis, which has boosted its partnership from 92 to 101 compared with just two appointments last year, reports figures of £5.5 billion worth of commercial work in the past year.

Andrew Gosnay, a partner in the Leeds office, which has taken on three new partners, says 'export clients are having a good time and helping to strengthen the legal markets.

The rail privatisation has kept hordes of lawyers busy in our firms and in others too no doubt.'However, Mr Marsh stresses that there is not always a correlation between high levels of partnership promotion and a firm's performance.

'Some firms in the Bristol area aren't taking on any partners this year because they made them up last year.' But Burges, like Ashurts, has managed to continued expanding through the recession, albeit at a slower rate.Firms which are not rewarding their best lawyers with partnerships at the right time may start to lose valuable fee-earners, says Mr Marsh.

And those who make everyone a partner will devalue the reward of partnership to no more than a status symbol.The balance is sometimes difficult to achieve.

Mr Gosnay, whose own Leeds office has just reported £256.6 million worth of international work in the last 12 months, says 'partnership has to be worth waiting for'.

If the slice of the profits of a poorly performing firm are not as great as a salary from a growing one then lawyers are not going to hang around just for the kudos of a partnership.As for City firms as a whole? 'This could be a watershed year but we will have to wait and see whether this growth is sustained,' concludes Mr Martin.