The change, which takes effect immediately, sees the previous retirement age of 70 scrapped.
The move comes after US rival Sidley Austin agreed to fork out $27.5m (£13.1m) earlier last month to settle the largest-ever age discrimination case brought against a law firm.
The claim was launched by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2002 on behalf of 32 former partners at the firm, who were demoted to counsel status in 1999 by the legacy Chicago practice Sidley & Austin.
The EEOC was backed by both the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) and the American Bar Association, with a raft of US firms – including Dewey & LeBoeuf and Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft – signing up to a NYSBA campaign to end mandatory retirement policies.
Commenting on the move, K&L Gates chairman Peter Kalis said in a statement: “Our partners concluded that age-based limitations on partner status are anachronistic and out of step with enlightened views of highly productive older lawyers.”
He added: “As this firm has supplied two of the last three presidents of the American Bar Association, we are proud to support the
