It was another record year for lateral partner movement in The Am Law 200. Some of this activity was head-spinning: lawyers with loyal clients or important knowledge getting the full free-agent treatment, with guarantees in their pockets and targets on their backs. Some of it was sad: Countless partners were invited to leave, the times being what they are; four firms died, and most of their partners pitched up at other firms. In all, 2,775 partners moved in or out of an Am Law 200 firm during our survey time frame.
For all that, we thought the most significant trend in this swirl was the rise of the lone wolves. One hundred fourteen partners set out, either with small groups or alone, to open their own firms. (This is hardly unprecedented: For one account of an earlier frontiersman, see “Master and Commander: Lessons from an Am Law 100 partner who set up his own shop and lived (well) to tell about it,” by former Shearman & Sterling partner Mark Zimmet, in our April 2007 issue.)
