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 ramped back up in September, as 92 partner and counsel moves up from 64 in August. The 92 moves were also substantially higher than the 70 reported in September 2024.
Government hiring in particular has remained strong, as firms hired 31 attorneys from such positions in September, up from 21 in August. Overall, there have been 244 government moves so far in 2025, compared to 71 during the same time period in 2024.
The number of government moves in 2025 far exceed the number of those moves during the first nine months after the last change in administration in 2021.
While the Department of Justice accounted for the most hires, with nine attorneys moving to private practice, there were several other agencies that were represented with multiple hires, including Treasury (4), Commerce (3), DHS (2), and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (2).
Five group moves were reported in September:
- An Intellectual Property group that left Crowell & Moring to join Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.
- A Private Client and Tax Controversy team that left Reed Smith to open the Tysons office of Loeb & Loeb.
- An Antitrust group that joined Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison from A&O Shearman.
- A Public Finance group that departed from Norris George & Ostrow to join Robinson & Cole.
- Two partners from Odin Feldman & Pittleman in Reston who joined Ward & Berry in Tysons.
Other firms reporting multiple hires included:
- Akin Gump
- Baker & McKenzie
- Bracewell
- Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner
- Covington & Burling
- Cozen O’Connor
- Crowell & Moring
- Fisher Phillips
- Jones Day
- Kiernan Trebach
- Mayer Brown
- Millbank
- Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
- Perkins Coie
- Skadden Arps
- Steptoe
Thirty four of the movers (37 percent) were women. Of those, half joined their new firms as partners. That compared to 35 of the 58 men (56.6 percent) who joined their new firms as partners.
Litigation was the most active practice area represented, with 13 moves apiece. Other active practice areas included:
- International Trade (10)
- Antitrust (8)
- Intellectual Property (8)
- Energy (7)
- Labor/Employment (5)
- Government Contracts (3)
- National Security (3)
- Tax (3)
The McCormick Group keeps extensive data on Lateral Moves in the D.C. market and offers consulting services relating to that data. Among the areas of focus include:
- A breakdown of the sources of laterals—from law firms, government, and in-house positions.
- The leading government agencies represented.
- The most active law firms in the lateral market and those firms that are the sources of the most laterals.
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