The former attorney general, Mr Peter Sutherland, stands to gain substantially if Goldman Sachs, one of the world's most successful investment banks, decides to float on the stock exchange.
The move, if it were to go ahead, would mean multi-million dollar bonanzas for the firm's partners, including Mr Sutherland.
A stockmarket floatation could value the partnership at more than $20 billion (£14.5 billion). Individual partners could receive as much as $80 million each (£58 million), although many would receive less.
It is not clear how much Mr Sutherland, also a former EU Commissioner and former head of the World Trade Organisation as well as chairman of BP, would be eligible for, if the whole bank were to list, but it would be substantial.
Mr Sutherland is chairman and managing director of Goldman Sachs International and as one of the most senior partners can expect to be at the top of the pay-out scale, although he only became a partner in 1995.
The bank's annual meeting is due to take place on June 12th and letters were to sent to all partners last week giving details of the meeting. However, it is understood that the agenda has not yet been finalised.
This will be the seventh time that Goldman partners have voted on a floatation. The last time in 1996 the motion was defeated when partners voted to retain the old structure. Although Mr Jon Corzine, Goldman's chairman and chief executive, cut off the debate when it became clear that many of the newly-elected partners had deep reservations and no formal vote was taken.
But it is understood that a number of newer partners would benefit far more this year after two years of almost record performances by the bank. The longer-serving partners have always stood to gain more by a deal.
All other US securities houses have either gone public or been sold to a larger group and recent mega-mergers such as Citicorp and Travellers are changing the face of banking, leading to further pressure on the partners to go public.
If the bank were to be valued at 3.5 times book value, it would be worth about $22 billion. There are around 190 full partners at Goldman Sachs who will vote on the floatation.
