Biggest Lateral Hirers, 3 Years vs 12 Months: Eight of Ten Stay

Ask which firms were the biggest lateral hirers over the last three years and the answer barely changes when the window shrinks to one year. Sartori & Partners data show that 39,809 lawyers moved from one law firm to another in the 3-year window, and eight of the ten firms that hired the most of them are also in the top 10 for the latest 12 months. Kirkland & Ellis ranks 1st in both. The changes sit at the edge of the list, among firms whose hiring falls in the same band, and they say more about how close the race is below the first names than about any firm's direction.

Both rankings count individual lateral hires: lawyers who arrived with a team in the same quarter are in the market totals but not in a firm's rank. Each rank comes with a band of hires rather than a count. The 3-year and 12-month bands cover different windows, so a firm's two bands cannot be read against each other as growth or decline.

Set the two lists side by side and only two names change on each. The eight firms on both are Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, DLA Piper, Greenberg Traurig, White & Case, Dentons, Paul Hastings and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. Sartori & Partners data show Kirkland & Ellis first among lateral hirers in both windows.

The order moves more than the membership. Latham & Watkins is 2nd over 12 months against 5th over three years, and White & Case is 5th against 7th. Dentons sits 6th against 4th, and Paul Hastings 8th against 6th. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett holds 9th place in both.

The bands show where the gaps are. Over three years the first six firms all hired in the 401-700 band, and seventh to tenth in the 251-400 band. On the 12-month list Kirkland & Ellis stands alone in the 251-400 band, five firms follow in the 151-250 band, and the last four share the 101-150 band. A clear leader, a steady middle and a crowded tail: the shape is the same in both windows.

Because the same eight appear in both lists, they are the bidders a firm can plan against with confidence. Benchmark offers, titles and timelines against them first, and treat the last places on the list as open.

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani enter the 12-month list at 10th and 7th. Neither is new to lateral hiring. Over three years Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher hired in the 251-400 band and Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani in the 251-400 band, the band shared by the firms ranked seventh to tenth on the 3-year list. They sat outside that top 10 by rank, not by scale.

What they hire differs sharply. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher builds on deal work: corporate and M&A was involved in about 30% of its 12-month lateral hires, against 20.7% of moves across the market, and private equity in about 20%, against about 15% in its own 3-year mix. Partners were about 20% of its 12-month hires, below the 27.7% market share, and it ranks in the 26-50 group of partner hirers.

Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani is a litigation platform. Litigation and disputes was involved in about 80% of its 12-month hires, against 39.9% across the market, and counsel made up about 30% of its hires, against 12.7% for all lateral moves. Product liability, employment and insurance work each run well above their market shares. It is also 8th among partner hirers over 12 months.

Both firms hired more lateral partners than they lost to other firms. Net partner flow, which sets the lateral partners a firm hired against the partners who left it for another firm over 12 months, was positive at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and positive at Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani.

The two newcomers therefore compete in different searches. A firm hiring corporate or private equity lawyers now meets one more large deal platform in the top 10. A firm building a litigation, product liability or insurance defense bench meets a hirer that is among the busiest in the market at partner level as well.

White & Case and Norton Rose Fulbright ranked 7th and 10th over three years. In the latest 12 months Hogan Lovells Cadwalader ranks in the 11-25 group of hirers, and Norton Rose Fulbright in the 11-25 group. That band is a position, not a measure of decline.

Their 12-month bands make the point. Hogan Lovells Cadwalader hired in the 101-150 band and Norton Rose Fulbright in the 101-150 band, the same band as the four firms ranked seventh to tenth on the 12-month list, 101-150. The line between tenth and eleventh place runs through a single band of hires, and firms on either side of it hired in the same range.

Norton Rose Fulbright keeps a strong partner profile. It was 8th among partner hirers over three years and ranks in the 11-25 group over 12 months. Partners were about 30% of its 12-month lateral hires, against about 25% in its 3-year mix and 27.7% for the market, and its net partner flow was positive: it hired more lateral partners than it lost to other firms. Hogan Lovells Cadwalader hired in the 251-400 band over three years, with partner hires in the 61-100 band, and ranks in the 26-50 group of partner hirers over 12 months.

For a rival, neither firm is a quieter competitor than its place on the 12-month list suggests. Both still hire in the range of the bottom of that list, and a candidate from their practices should still be expected to talk to them.

The partner rankings show even less movement than the all-level lists. The first seven places go to the same firms in the same order over three years and over 12 months: Kirkland & Ellis, Greenberg Traurig, DLA Piper, Dentons, Paul Hastings, White & Case and Sidley Austin. Only the last three places change. Over three years they went to Norton Rose Fulbright, Ashurst Perkins Coie and Hogan Lovells Cadwalader; over 12 months to Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, Willkie Farr & Gallagher and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

Two firms that sit on both all-level lists, Latham & Watkins and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, appear on neither partner top 10, so their volume rests more on hiring below partner level than at the firms around them. In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, the ten largest partner hirers took 13.5% of lateral partner moves over 12 months, against 12.9% of all moves for the top 10 at every level.

A partner weighing several offers will most often be weighing these seven. A firm that wants to win partner searches against them needs a reason they cannot match: the practice fit, the platform in a given city, or the role on arrival.

Concentration shifts a little with the window. The ten firms on the 12-month list took 12.9% of lateral moves, while the ten on the 3-year list took 12.2%, a difference of 0.7 points. Eight of the ten names are shared, so the higher share does not come from a new set of firms. The field behind them stays wide: 1,291 firms made at least one lateral hire in the 12 months and 1,886 over three years.

All four firms that crossed the line sit in the 1,000+ lawyers class, which took 52.5% of lateral moves over three years and 53.6% in the latest 12 months. The top 10 is a thin slice of that class, not the class itself.

For a firm of 400-999 lawyers or 150-399 lawyers, the ten largest hirers compete for only part of the pool. With the top 10 at 12.9% of moves, most lateral candidates join one of the many other firms, and a well-run search can reach them without bidding against the largest platforms.

Plan against the eight. Kirkland & Ellis and the seven other firms on both lists are the rivals a lateral search should assume from the start, whatever the window.

Read the tail as a narrow margin. The last places on the 12-month list are decided inside the 101-150 band, so a firm's entry or exit there says little about its strategy and nothing about a fall in hiring.

For partner searches, expect the same seven bidders, led by Kirkland & Ellis and Greenberg Traurig, in both windows. Prepare the case for your platform before the first meeting, not after a competing offer arrives.

Read the newcomers by practice. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher adds weight in corporate and private equity; Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani in litigation and insurance defense. Sartori & Partners update both rankings with each edition, from public law-firm announcements, firm websites and professional profiles, checked monthly.