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In the Legal's Top Laterals/New Partners supplement, read about promoting lateral partner integration, the future or lateral moves and why regional law firms continue to grow. Also, check out which moves made it on our top lateral hires and runners-up lists.

Lateral hiring continues to be a central strategy in how law firms grow. According to a recent legal-industry transition survey for 2017, more than 95 percent of law firms indicated lateral growth was a key initiative, but it's a strategy full of risk, unknowns and pitfalls.

Future of Lateral Moves: Practice Area, Geography and Economics Remain Important
Taking a look at emerging trends in lateral moves, can we predict for the near future that firms will more likely grow through larger groups or through individual hires? Well, as my accounting professor liked to say: It depends.

Technology and the ease with which people can travel is shrinking the world in which we live; and other market forces are being fundamentally altered by the way people view the world. For this reason, an accomplished legal career looks significantly different than it did 10 years ago. Because lawyers are using different metrics to evaluate success, law firms must do the same to maintain longevity.

Is the legal industry languishing or booming? It depends on where you look, and whom you ask.