This is the latest update on lateral partner and counsel moves in the Washington, D.C. area. The data included in these reports is primarily derived from Firm Prospects LLC. For more details and analysis, including a list of laterals for the month, please contact Steve Nelson.
Lateral hiring dropped a bit in August, as 64 partner and counsel moves were reported, down from 74 in July. At the same time, however, that 64 figure was higher than the 58 moves that were reported in June 2024. As a result, lateral hiring in 2025 remains well above that in 2024.
At the same time, all of that increase can be attributed to a surge in hiring from the government. Government hiring remained strong in August with 21 moves from government positions, down from 28 from June. Overall, there have been 213 government moves so far in 2025, compared to 58 during the same time period in 2024.
The number of government moves in 2025 far exceed the number of those moves during the first eight months after the last change in administration in 2021.
While the Department of Justice accounted for the most hires, with four attorneys moving to private practice, there were several other agencies that were represented with multiple hires, including HHS (3), Treasury (3), and Federal Trade Commission (2).
Only one group move was reported in August, as two Senior Counsels in the Data Privacy area moved from Crowell & Moring to Akin Gump.
Other firms reporting multiple hires included:
- Arnold & Porter
- Cooley
- Foley Hoag
- Harrity & Harrity
- Holland & Knight
- Kilpatrick Townsend
- King & Spalding
- Latham & Watkins
- McGuireWoods
- O’Melveny & Myers
- Paul Weiss
- Thompson Hine
Half of the movers joined their firms as counsels (32 out of 64). Overall, 22 women were hired by law firms in June, but only eight (36.4 percent) entered as partners. That compared to 24 of the 42 men (57.1 percent) who joined their new firms as partners.
Litigation and Intellectual Property were the most active practice areas represented, with 9 moves apiece. Other active practice areas included:
- Health Care (4)
- International Trade (4)
- ERISA (4)
- Environmental (4)
- Antitrust (3)
- Data Privacy (3
- Telecommunications (3)
- Labor/Employment (3)
- Tax (3)
In the latest episode of “Steve’s Rules”, TMG’s Steve Nelson interviews Tim Corcoran of the Corcoran Consulting Group on designing and implementing law firm partner compensation programs and its application to lateral hiring and integration. Among the topics discussed were:
- The primary issues that are leading firms to retain his services.
- The most frequent flaws in law firm compensation systems
- Balancing the contributions of rainmakers and key subject matter experts.
- How firms handle compensation of laterals, particularly in situations that those attorneys are not bringing all of their originated business to their new firms.
- How firms should design bonus programs for laterals
This is the 17th episode of Steve’s Rules. The podcast is available on virtually all platforms, including Apple and Spotify.
