Legal Business

Sponsored briefing: The lateral partner hiring landscape for 2024

I have been working with law firms advising on strategic lateral partner hires for more than 20 years, and trying to predict what the market is going to do is not only challenging but futile, as the market often does exactly the opposite of what everyone thinks it is going to do.

Law firm growth and profitability is directly linked to hiring and developing the right people, be that as trainees, or as lateral partner hires. Even firms that have historically grown organically, such as the Magic Circle or single-office big hitters like Macfarlanes and Travers Smith, are increasingly making forays into the lateral recruitment market. This desire/need/pressure to grow and to get ahead of the curve has exploded in recent years and resulted in record numbers of partner and team moves, not to mention some eye-catching mergers.