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WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
RAINMAKING ON YOUR PARADE - Hiring hotshot laterals who command stratospheric pay is an increasingly common tactic for ambitious Am Law 200 firms. But as the classic song goes, when you wish upon a star—sometimes that star turns around and leaves with their giant book of business after just a couple of years. Take, for example, Jim Woolery, a highly connected New York dealmaker who joined Atlanta-based King & Spalding in May 2017, only to roll out last fall so he could start his own boutique. As Law.com’s Meredith Hobbs reports, landing a big-name rainmaker can lead to a huge payoff, but an early exit can make it more difficult for a firm to convince the rest of its partnership to hire other marquee names. Still, that doesn’t mean firms should stop trying—it just means they need to take steps to increase the odds that the next big hire will stick.
