Legislation Companies
Which BigLaw companies are growing lateral affiliate hiring probably the most? One made authorized headlines final yr
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 begin a brand new agency final yr. (Picture from Shutterstock)
As an entire, BigLaw companies have diminished lateral hiring of associates during the last 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 studies in a story that depends on information from authorized information 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 a new firm final yr.
Lewis Brisbois employed 279 lateral associates in 2023, an “uncharacteristically excessive” quantity, the agency’s managing companion, Greg Katz, advised Reuters columnist Jenna Greene in an e-mail. The agency has additionally improved its administration construction and is bringing on “prime expertise of each expertise degree,” Katz mentioned.
Regardless of the brand new hires, Lewis Brisbois had 48 fewer associates on the finish of 2023 than at first, when there have been 659 associates, in keeping with Leopard Options, which collected its information from the web sites of the nation’s 200 prime 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 yr) and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (which employed 113 lateral associates in 2023).
