From Morgan, Lewis & Bockius absorbing Shearman & Sterling’s entire Munich office to Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison’s raid on Kirkland & Ellis transactional partners, group lateral acquisitions dominated headlines in the legal press this year, in spite of the common perception of an underwhelming year for legal services.
But despite the eye-catching headlines that group lateral moves produce, partner recruiters and Am Law 100 firm leaders say that for every such move, there are 20 that fall apart: both economic conditions and specific firm circumstances have to be right to spark a group’s exodus.
