This is the latest update on lateral partner and counsel moves in the Washington, D.C. area. All data included in these reports is derived from Firm Prospects LLC, and consists of moves reported in February. For more details and analysis, please contact TMG’s Steve Nelson (snelson@tmg-dc.com) or Dave Ris (dris@tmg-dc.com).
As expected, February was a busy month for lateral hiring, with 59 partner and counsel moves reported, up from 29 in January. Normally, we would expect that pace to continue and probably rise in the next two months in the aftermath of partner distributions and bonuses. However, the cataclysmic events surrounding the spread of Covid-19 is sure to complicate at least the timing of moves for a while.
Like last month, Intellectual Property and Energy were the two most active practice areas in terms of lateral moves, with seven moves in Energy/Project Finance and six moves in IP. One 5-lawyer energy group moved from Alston & Bird to Davis Wright Tremaine, while the only group moving in IP was a two-lawyer group moving from Dentons to Foley & Lardner.
At the same time, no less than nine other practice areas registered at least three lateral moves. Leading the way were Real Estate, Health Care, White Collar/Investigations, and Antitrust, with four apiece, followed by Civil Litigation, Environmental, Tax, Data Privacy/Consumer Protection, and FDA, all with three.
Other notable findings include:
- Of the 59 moves, six came from government (including three from the Department of Justice) and two came from industry.
- Of the remaining 51 law firm moves, 37 came in at the partner level. Of those 37, three laterals were promoted from counsel or associate to partner.
- Only nine of the lateral movers were women. However, unlike recent months, where most of the women entered at the counsel level, seven of the nine joined their new firms as partners.
- Besides Davis Wright and Foley & Lardner, other firms registering more than one move were Alston & Bird, DLA Piper, Latham & Watkins, Morgan Lewis, Ropes & Gray and Venable. Most notably, Ropes brought in a Health Care group from Akin Gump and Venable brought in a Real Estate group from Morgan Lewis.
The McCormick Group
1525 Wilson Blvd #550
Arlington, VA 22209
www.mccormickgroup.com
703-841-1700
Steve Nelson is an executive principal at The McCormick Group, an executive search firm based in Arlington, Va. Steve conducts partner-level searches, searches for in-house counsel, and searches for administrative professionals for law firms. In addition, he serves as a consultant for law firm merger planning, practice area expansion, and in recruiting strategy. Steve is a former attorney with 17 years in legal journalism and publishing and is a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management. Follow him @SKNLegal.
