False Claims Act Lawyers: Washington Hires Most as Hiring Holds Flat

Firms that recruit False Claims Act lawyers are competing, above all, for one city. Sartori & Partners data show that Washington, DC took 31 of the 129 fraud and False Claims Act lateral moves in the last 12 months, or 24.0%. Across all practices the capital holds only 5.6% of moves, which gives the speciality an index of 428 there. White-collar, investigations and criminal work, the practice this speciality sits in, reads 351 in the same city: high, but short of the fraud figure. The pull toward Washington is sharper for fraud lawyers than for white-collar lawyers in general.

Two traits follow from that concentration. Movers seldom change city, and most of them are partners. The sections below take geography first, then mobility, seniority, volume and the firms doing the hiring, each set against the white-collar practice and the whole lateral market, and each closing on what it means for a firm planning a fraud hire.

New York is the largest lateral market overall, with 14.8% of all moves, yet in fraud and False Claims Act work it comes second: 22 moves, or 17.1% of the total. Its index of 116 sits near the market weight and near the white-collar practice's 118 in that city. Washington is the outlier. Its fraud share runs 4.3 points above its white-collar share, 24.0% against 19.7%, so the capital's weight grows as the work narrows from white collar to fraud.

For a firm building a fraud bench, the map is lopsided. A search run from New York meets a market sized close to the norm. A search run from Washington works the city where 31 of the year's moves happened, and where every competing fraud practice is also looking.

The longer view counts 334 fraud and False Claims Act moves over three years, and four cities stand out. Washington still comes first with 20.1%, then New York with 14.7%, Los Angeles with 9.6% and Boston with 7.2%. That order differs from the parent practice, where New York ranks first over the same three years with 17.0% against Washington's 16.3%.

In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, Los Angeles took 9.6% of fraud moves over three years against 4.8% of all moves, and Boston 7.2% against 2.3%. Both carry more fraud hiring than their size in the market would suggest. A firm that wants a fraud presence outside Washington and New York has two cities with a three-year record of hiring to start from.

Only 12.0% of fraud and False Claims Act movers changed city when they changed firm, against 15.6% in white-collar work and 20.5% across the market. The three-year rates point the same way: 15.9% for the speciality against 21.6% for all practices. A Washington fraud lawyer who moves firms almost always stays in Washington, and the same holds in New York.

The practical reading is plain. Relocation is not a route to a fraud bench. A firm without an office in the city where the candidates practice will rarely persuade them to move to an office it already has; the hire follows the office, not the other way around. Firms with a thin Washington presence should weigh that before they open a fraud search.

Partners account for 56.6% of fraud and False Claims Act moves over the last 12 months, against 41.6% in white-collar work and 27.7% across all practices. Associates make up 27.9% and counsel 14.7%. Over three years the partner share is 59.0%, so the tilt is not a one-year effect.

Movers in this speciality also step up more often. 17.1% joined at a higher title than the one they left, against 13.4% in white-collar work and 12.9% in the market. Fraud lawyers promoted to partner over 5 years reached it a median of 10.0 years after they began practice. For a hiring firm, that means two levers: a partner title for a senior counsel or senior associate ready for it, and a budget set for partner-level moves, because associates are a minority of this market.

Fraud and False Claims Act hiring held flat (+21.3%) on the settled 12-month comparison, with 131 moves against 108 the year before. Partner hiring held flat (+15.4%), at 75 against 65. White-collar hiring held flat (+8.2%) as well, while the whole market rose 9.0%. The speciality accounts for 22.1% of the moves recorded under the white-collar practice.

Sartori & Partners counted 73 firms that hired at least one fraud lawyer in 12 months, and the ten most active took 32.8% of individual hires, against 21.2% in white-collar work and 12.9% in the market. Barnes & Thornburg ranks first, in the 6-10 band of hires. Firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 55.0% of the moves where the hiring firm's size is known, close to 53.6% in the market, while firms of 150-399 lawyers took 16.3% against 13.3%.

With volume steady, a firm cannot count on a growing pool to fill a fraud seat. With hiring concentrated, it is bidding against firms that return to this market again and again; a firm outside the top 10 needs a clear case for why a candidate should choose it over a repeat buyer.

Start in Washington. At an index of 428, the capital is where fraud and False Claims Act candidates practice and where they move, and only 12.0% of movers leave their city. A firm without a Washington office should expect a narrow field elsewhere: New York, then over three years Los Angeles and Boston.

Plan for a partner search. With 56.6% of moves at partner level, a fraud mandate is usually a partner mandate, and a senior counsel ready for a partner title is a candidate worth approaching. Do not plan on a rising tide: the count held flat (+21.3%), so each hire comes out of a pool of roughly the same size as last year. And expect to meet the same handful of firms in every process, because the ten most active hirers took 32.8% of individual moves.