New York White Collar Laterals Trade Big Firms for Smaller Ones

Sartori & Partners data show that the white collar defense lawyers New York firms hire leave the largest platforms far more often than they join them. Over 3 years, 60.3% of lateral moves in New York white collar started at a firm of 1,000+ lawyers, while 45.8% ended at one. Firms of under 150 lawyers show the reverse: they supplied 10.3% of the moves and took 15.1%. The latest 12 months point the same way, with firms of 1,000+ lawyers hiring 45.6% of New York white collar laterals against 62.6% for every practice in the city. For a hiring partner the point is simple. In this market the big-firm bench is the supply, and the buyers come in every size.

The size of the firm a lawyer left and the size of the firm joined are counted on different bases, because each side covers only the moves where that firm's size is known, so the gap between them is approximate. It is still wide: roughly 14.5 points at the top of the market. White collar across the practice shows a smaller version of the same gap, with 60.7% of laterals leaving firms of 1,000+ lawyers and 54.3% joining them. New York across all practices barely shifts, at 63.2% out against 59.9% in.

So the big-firm white collar bench in New York gives up a larger share of the moves than it takes back, by a margin neither the city nor the practice shows. A firm of any size that wants a white collar lateral in Manhattan should expect the candidate to come from a platform of 1,000+ lawyers, where 60.3% of the moves began, and should build the pitch around why that lawyer would leave one. The largest firms, for their part, recruit here against the flow of the market.

At the other end, firms of under 150 lawyers were the destination of 15.1% of New York white collar moves over 3 years and the origin of 10.3%, an approximate gain of 4.8 points in share. Firms of 400-999 lawyers gained more: 23.6% of arrivals against 13.0% of departures. Firms of 150-399 lawyers sit close to even, at 15.6% joined against 16.3% left. New York litigation runs the opposite way at the small end: firms of under 150 lawyers supplied 18.7% of the city's litigation laterals and took 14.3%.

That contrast matters to a boutique or a midsize firm. In New York litigation the small-firm bench is a place a search recruits from; in white collar it is a place former big-firm lawyers go. Investigations work follows the lawyer, and a smaller platform carries fewer conflicts, so the case for joining one is easy to make to a senior investigator and hard for a large firm to answer.

The 12-month figures confirm the three-year shift. Firms of 1,000+ lawyers hired 45.6% of New York white collar laterals, against 62.6% across the city and 55.5% for white collar across the practice. Firms of under 150 lawyers hired 19.0%, against 10.1% in the city and 9.5% market-wide. New York litigation shows a similar joined-firm split, with 43.8% going to firms of 1,000+ lawyers. What sets white collar apart is the origin side, where the big firms supply far more of the lawyers than they hire.

A hirer that benchmarks against city-wide figures will overrate how much of this market the largest firms hold. On the share hired by firms of 1,000+ lawyers, New York white collar sits 17.0 points below the city. A boutique with a real investigations offering is competing on familiar ground here, not at the edge.

Hiring in this market is thin per firm. In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, 60 firms hired the 83 white collar lawyers who joined a New York firm in 12 months, about 1.4 hires per hiring firm. White collar across the practice ran at 2.2 hires per firm, and New York across all practices at 6.7. Over 3 years, 128 firms shared 232 moves. Spread does not rule out repeat buyers: the ten busiest hirers over 3 years took 20.3% of the moves, against 16.1% for white collar across the practice and 19.5% for New York.

The three-year list opens with Seyfarth Shaw and Morrison Cohen, both in the 6-10 band of hires, and the rest sits in the 3-5 band. No firm owns this market, so a well-run search reaches the same candidates as the busiest buyers, and a candidate's alternatives are rarely limited to the names on this list.

The lawyers in this market are investigators first. Over 3 years, 75.0% of New York white collar laterals listed government and internal investigations as a focus, 42.2% criminal defense and 37.5% securities enforcement. One lawyer can carry several of these, so the shares overlap and are never added together. Securities enforcement is where the city's financial base shows: on an index of a practice's share of city moves against its share of the whole market, banking and finance scores 146 in New York lateral moves, capital markets 169 and white collar itself 118.

The pool is also senior by New York standards. Partners made up 38.6% of New York white collar laterals in 12 months, against 28.3% for all New York moves and 41.6% for white collar across the practice. An enforcement search in New York should therefore start with the securities and investigations groups of the largest firms, which supplied 60.3% of the moves over 3 years, and should be priced for a senior hire.

Volume is steady, not rising. Sartori & Partners counted 79 New York white collar moves in the latest settled 12 months against 61 a year earlier, a gap that counts this small leave flat by our reading, while New York across all practices rose 11.9%. Four steps follow. Source from the platforms of 1,000+ lawyers, the origin of 60.3% of the moves over 3 years. If you are a boutique or a firm of 400-999 lawyers, lead with independence and conflict room: those firms took in a larger share of these lawyers than they gave up. If you are a firm of 1,000+ lawyers, budget for a harder sell, since firms your size hired 45.8% of the laterals while supplying more. Keep the search local: 8.8% of New York white collar laterals changed city in 12 months, against 15.6% for the practice market-wide.