When Tim Ryan joined Mayer Brown in July, it didn't take him long to learn his way around. He'd been a new hire at the law firm before.

Three times before.

"This time I was asked to sign my name in blood," said Ryan, 37, a partner in the Chicago-based firm's Charlotte, N.C., office.

He started at Mayer Brown in 1996 right after graduating from the University of Virginia School of Law. Since then, he has taken jobs in-house and at two other law firms, but he has always landed back at the firm where he began.

"No doubt, I'm getting my fair share of ribbing," said Ryan, whose practice focuses on syndicated finance.

"There was a lot of Super Glue on my chair when I came back," he said.

Although Ryan's situation may be extreme, many attorneys are returning to the fold after seeking opportunities elsewhere.

While it is typical for lawyers to rejoin a firm after a political appointment comes to an end, increased lateral shuffling in the current legal market has some attorneys heading back home after a stint with the competition.

Law firms including Washington's Howrey; Chicago's Winston & Strawn; McDermott, Will & Emery; New York's Chadbourne & Parke; and several more in recent months have welcomed back attorneys from other law firms.

In some cases, conflicts either drove attorneys from their home firms or sent them back. In others, an opportunity to build a practice with another firm didn't meet expectations. Still other attorneys wanted a chance to see if the grass really was greener, and they discovered that it wasn't.

For Ryan, a combination of family interests, a chance to build his finance practice in another city and an opportunity to go in-house sent him to Hogan & Hartson, to Bank of America and back to Mayer Brown at different points along the way.

Most recently, he came from Hunton & Williams' office in Charlotte, where he had worked since November 2007. He and David Wiles, another partner now at Mayer Brown, had started developing a syndicated lending practice at Hunton & Williams. They made the move back to Mayer Brown earlier this month because of support that the 1,568-attorney firm could provide such a practice, Ryan said.

"It was going to be a lot harder than we thought to build a practice," Ryan said.

The "coming home" phenomenon is part of a general increase in lateral movement among attorneys in recent years. In 2007 alone, some 2,423 partners lateraled in or out of Am Law 200 firms, a list of law firms with the highest revenues published by The American Lawyer, an affiliate of The National Law Journal. That figure represented a 12.5 percent increase from 2006, when 2,153 attorneys changed positions.

The chance to make more money, usually, is not the reason that lawyers jump ship, said Jon Lindsey, managing partner of the New York office of Major, Lindsey & Africa, an attorney placement firm.

"What brings people back is the personal relationships. They miss their friends," Lindsey said.

In the placement firm's "Lateral Partner Satisfaction" survey released last year, lawyers ranked compensation as one of the least significant factors for laterals when they chose their new firms. Working for a law firm in which they felt valued, supported, listened to and included among colleagues proved more important.

DIDN'T WANT TO GO

When David Ivill left McDermott Will in December 2006, he didn't want to go.

"I don't know if I drank the Kool-Aid or what, but it wasn't my first choice to leave," he said.

A conflict of interest between one of his big clients and another at the law firm prompted him, his practice leader and his colleagues in the New York health law practice to jump to Boston's Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo.

A few months later, when McDermott Will asked him to come back, he listened. The previous conflict of interest had been cured with McDermott's former client staying with the Mintz Levin group. In addition, Ivill had the chance to head the health law practice in New York and build a new group.

"I feel comfortable here," he said.

Just as conflicts can send lawyers packing from their home firms, they can also arise at the new firm. New clients arriving as a result of mergers and acquisitions, changes in client leadership and previously undiscovered clashes can put an end to a new arrangement.

Another reason attorneys return is that a client, whom they expected to make the move with them, stays with the home firm, as a result of the firm "mak[ing] a run at the client," Lindsey said.

Other times, attorneys leave to take on jobs that require management and business development skills but discover that they miss hands-on practice.

"I learned a lot of things about trying to build a practice. It can be hard," said Marc Schildkraut. He returned to Howrey as a partner in June after working as a partner at Heller Ehrman for about two years. A mergers and antitrust litigator, Schildkraut said moving to another firm gave him some insight into what makes him happy. It is working at Howrey, as it turned out.

"I gained some perspective," he said.

Although many lawyers who return to their firms learn that they had a good thing before they strayed, they often find that they have to adjust to changes.

Ivill, who went back to McDermott Will from Mintz Levin, said one challenge he faced was having his colleagues view him as the practice leader instead of just one of the troops.

Rick Ripley, a partner who rejoined Howrey this month after working at Bingham McCutchen for more than three years, said he came to the realization that time marched on while he was away. He previously served as a recruiting partner and worked closely with beginning lawyers before he left Howrey.

"Some of the senior associates were my boot campers," he said.

Leaving and returning can also remind attorneys of why they left in the first place. "Sometimes the mistake is in returning," Lindsey said. "They realize that the reasons why they left never changed."