THE BIG FIVE accounting firms are not only raiding the partnerships of major law firms for tax professionals, but are hitting law schools also, with stepped-up recruiting programs to hire young lawyers at the earliest opportunity.

This hiring is helping the major accounting firms build a circle of support around the senior-level talent that they have lured away from law firms like Davis Polk & Wardwell; Shearman & Sterling; Baker & McKenzie; and Morrison & Foerster.