Which BigLaw firms are increasing lateral associate hiring the most? One made legal headlines last year

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Which BigLaw companies are growing lateral…

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Which BigLaw companies are growing lateral affiliate hiring probably the most? One made authorized headlines final 12 months

By Debra Cassens Weiss

April 4, 2024, 11:24 am CDT

As a complete, BigLaw companies have lowered lateral hiring of associates over the past two years, a phenomenon documented in a report by the Nationwide Affiliation for Legislation Placement.

However some excessive grossing legislation companies are bucking the development, Reuters reviews in a narrative that depends on knowledge from authorized knowledge intelligence supplier Leopard Options.

No. 1 for uncooked numbers in lateral affiliate hiring is Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, which needed to grapple with the lack of 140 attorneys who left to start out a brand new agency final 12 months.

Lewis Brisbois employed 279 lateral associates in 2023, an “uncharacteristically excessive” quantity, the agency’s managing companion, Greg Katz, informed Reuters columnist Jenna Greene in an electronic mail. The agency has additionally improved its administration construction and is bringing on “high expertise of each expertise stage,” Katz stated.

Regardless of the brand new hires, Lewis Brisbois had 48 fewer associates on the finish of 2023 than firstly, when there have been 659 associates, based on Leopard Options, which collected its knowledge from the web sites of the nation’s 200 high grossing companies.

However the brand new agency made up of former Lewis Brisbois attorneys fared a lot worse. It imploded amid revelations that two of its leaders had despatched offensive and derogatory workplace emails.

Different BigLaw companies growing lateral affiliate hiring are Jackson Lewis (which employed 130 lateral associates final 12 months) and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (which employed 113 lateral associates in 2023).