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, please contact TMG’s Steve Nelson (snelson@tmg-dc.com) or Dave Ris (dris@tmg-dc.com).
Lateral partner hiring almost doubled in January, as a total of 83 moves were reported, up from 42 in December. That number is also up substantially from January 2021, when 59 moves were reported.
January was also an active month for government laterals, as 16 lawyers entered private practice from government positions. Leading the way were three laterals each from the Securities & Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission. Seven lawyers also moved from in-house and one came from consulting.
Three groups moved in January, including four banking lawyers who moved from Offit Kurman to the boutique firm of Mitchell Sandler. Other groups that moved were three banking lawyers who left Buckley LLP to go to Cooley LLP and a two-partner intellectual property group that moved from McDermott Will & Emery to Fried, Frank, Harris Shriver & Jacobson. Other firms reporting multiple moves in January included:
- Blank Rome
- Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck
- DLA Piper
- Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
- Greenberg Traurig
- Husch Blackwell
- King & Spalding
- McGuireWoods
- Offit Kurman
- Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
- Reed Smith
- Seyfarth Shaw
- Wilkinson Barker Knauer
- Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Nearly half of the movers (44.6 percent) were women, but as we have noted in previous months, relatively few of those women (40.5 percent) came in as partners. By comparison, 28 out of the 46 men who made lateral moves in January came in as partners (60.8 percent).
Litigation was the leading practice overall, with 12 moves, followed by Banking/Finance (7 moves), Intellectual Property (7), Securities Enforcement (5), Corporate (5), White Collar/Investigations (4) International Trade (4), Real Estate (4), Labor & Employment (4), and Data Privacy/Consumer Protection (4).
