Ramya S Tiller (formerly Ramya Seetharaman when at NLSIU Bangalore until 2002), has been promoted to US international firm Debevoise & Plimpton’s partnership in New York alongside three other partners in New York, and three in global offices.

Tiller had graduated from NLSIU in 2002 and obtained an LLM from NYU School of Law in 2005.

After graduation in 2002 she had worked at Udwadia Udeshi in Mumbai, and began her career at Debevoise in 2007, moved to Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in 2010 for just over a year in Munich, and returned to Debevoise in New York in 2012.

At Debevoise she specialises in acquisition and leveraged finance work, including the “$2.3 billion acquisition of Dollar Thrifty by Hertz and €1.2 billion acquisition of Mauser Group by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice”, according to her profile on the firm’s website.

Debevoise has one of US firms’ leanest equity partnerships, with a massive 21% of its total fee-earner headcount in the US comprised of partners, according to Law360 in 2016.

Debevoise operates a single-lockstep equity partnership, with an average profit per partner of around $2.5m (Rs 16 crore), according to the American Lawyer, which is amongst the highest of US firms.

A first-year lockstep partner would be on a lower equity rung, while those at the top of the equity lockstep who have been partners the longest, would earn significantly more than $2.5m.