Philadelphia law firm lateral hiring rose 91% in 2021 as 'everyone is in demand' - Philadelphia Business Journal - The Business Journals

Lateral hiring at law firms was up nearly 111% in 2021 following a 30% decline in 2020, according to data compiled by the National Association for Law Placement.

The increase is the largest year-over-year increase since the NALP began tracking that kind of data 23 years ago. The previous year-over-year high was 48.5% in 2011, when firms were beginning to hire again after the Great Recession of 2008 to 2010.

Lateral hiring increased across all categories of lawyers, but it was highest for associates — up by 149% in 2021. Lateral partner movement increased by 43%.

The findings are based on information on nearly 7,700 lateral lawyers in 480 offices and firms. Among the nine Philadelphia firms surveyed, lateral hiring rose 91% but lateral partner hiring actually declined 8%. Lateral associate movement skyrocketed 111%.

“The fact that the lateral hiring market was red hot in 2021 does not come as a surprise to anyone working in the industry,” NALP Executive Director James Leipold said in a statement. “Even so, it is startling to see these numbers. … Lateral lawyer hiring at this level is likely unsustainable over time, and I expect the lateral market to cool a bit in 2022, or at least level off. But for now, it remains a volatile and fast-moving market. Coupled with rising associate salaries, it’s a bit of a battlefield out there for midlevel associate talent right now.”

Darin Morgan, managing partner for Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., at legal recruiting firm Major Lindsey & Africa, said 2021 was unprecedented when it comes to lateral activity so the data does not surprise him.

“It was our best year ever and we’ve been in business for about 40 years,” Morgan said. “Associates, partners, in-house lawyers. Everyone is in demand.”

Morgan said after the pandemic hit in March 2020, law firms put a hold on lateral associate hiring for about six months. They didn’t want to implement layoffs like they did during the recession in 2009.

“But once firm leaders saw how adaptable the legal economy was to remote working, they realized that not only were things going well but they needed more people,” Morgan said. “And the supply and demand issue just became incredibly lopsided.”

The talent wars became so intense — especially with associates in transactional practice areas — that law firms began offering signing and retention bonuses and mid-year bonuses in addition to existing year-bonuses. Morgan said compensation was not the only way to recruit and retain. One firm offered to pay up to $5,000 to send associates on a week’s vacation. Others enhanced parental leave or allowed associates to continue working largely from home.

Here are some other findings from NALP:

• The survey for the first time asked about the hiring of lateral lawyers located outside an office’s geographic area who would work remotely. The percentage of hired lawyers who didn’t have to relocate was 15% for lateral partners, 23% for lateral associates and 23% for other lateral lawyers.
• Philadelphia’s 91% lateral hiring increase was below other major cities such as New York (178%), Boston (171%), Washington, D.C. (128%), Houston (191%), Chicago (105%) and Minneapolis (142%). Philadelphia was ahead of West Coast cities such as San Francisco's (89.5%) and Seattle (85%)) and on par with Los Angeles (91%). Among big cities, only Atlanta (63%) and Dallas (88%) had smaller increases.
• Among cities reporting at least 50 lateral hires, Houston's 191% bump was the highest percentage increas.

source: https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2022/04/03/philadelphia-law-firm-lateral-hiring-up-906.html

Your content is great. However, if any of the content contained herein violates any rights of yours, including those of copyright, please contact us immediately by e-mail at media[@]kissrpr.com.