diff --git a/eng/common/pipelines/codeowners-linter.yml b/eng/common/pipelines/codeowners-linter.yml
index a77bcf8ff0..b676a4d17a 100644
--- a/eng/common/pipelines/codeowners-linter.yml
+++ b/eng/common/pipelines/codeowners-linter.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 # Lint the CODEOWNERS file for a given repository and filter out baseline errors
-# Note: Due to the nature of the verifications, which includes source paths/globs
-# for the repository, this pipeline cannot use sparse-checkout.
+# Uses partial clone (fetchFilter: tree:0) to avoid downloading full git history while allowing branch operations
 trigger: none
 
 pr:
@@ -39,6 +38,10 @@ stages:
       UserOrgUri: "https://azuresdkartifacts.blob.core.windows.net/azure-sdk-write-teams/user-org-visibility-blob"
 
     steps:
+      - checkout: self
+        fetchFilter: tree:0
+        fetchTags: false
+
       - pwsh: |
           dotnet tool install --global --add-source "$(DotNetDevOpsFeed)" --version "$(CodeownersLinterVersion)" "Azure.Sdk.Tools.CodeownersLinter"
         displayName: Install CodeownersLinter