Hot Law Firm Practices In A Trump Presidency

Ed. note: This is the latest installment in a series of posts on lateral moves from Lateral Link’s team of expert contributors. Ata Farhadi is a Director of associate, partner, and in-house recruiting at Lateral Link. He recruits for Am Law 200 firms, smaller boutiques, and corporations ranging from financial institutions to major entertainment and media outlets. As a Director at Lateral Link, Ata offers market analysis, résumé advice, interview strategy and related services to attorneys across the United States, Europe and Asia. Ata is also a proud alumnus of Pembroke College, Oxford, and the University of Southern California (Go Trojans!) and is always happy to hear from alumni of either school.

With the election this week of Republican Donald Trump, Am Law firms are sharing with Lateral Link recruiters their predictions for the legal practice areas that will experience growth in a Trump presidency.

Here’s what we’re hearing thus far.

1. Domestically Focused Project Finance/Infrastructure Practice Groups Will Grow in 2017. Your Way in to Project Finance?

A number of partners are predicting a desire to grow their Project Finance practice groups under a Trump administration. They tell us that firms will likely be interested in growing groups with attorneys who represent sponsors, lenders, investors, and contractors, and given the Trump campaign’s statements objecting against the flow of funds and investment to other countries, we expect growth to begin primarily in the domestic project finance market (apparently partners focusing on Mexican and Latin American infrastructure investment are already receiving calls from concerned clients, according to the Am Law Daily, and the Mexican Peso plummeted over 11% at one point to a new all-time low against the US Dollar).

One firm told us that partners with experience in public-private partnerships will be in huge demand. Why? Because public-private partnerships are a great compromise to getting infrastructure projects off the ground, specifically in the industries of transportation, sports/entertainment, telecommunications, oil and gas, hospitality, and construction/commercial development. At Lateral Link, we expect special focus on areas where Trump has the most connections: namely sports, entertainment, and construction, a projection confirmed in recent conversations with one law firm partner who expects firms to bring in more EPC partners (“engineering, procurement, and construction”) going forward.

In California, where I recruit, we have recently seen an increase in the number of associates interested in project finance work. Traditionally, project finance groups have been relatively strict in requiring prior relevant experience in the industry from those associates seeking Am Law 200 positions, and at the mid-level that will very likely continue, despite a tight candidate-driven lateral market.

For more junior associates interested in project finance, we expect an ever more increasing receptivity to the idea of retooling folks from other finance practices and openings both at larger and smaller practices. In fact, my colleagues and I are currently working on one or more such positions which we are happy to share with interested attorneys.

See here for a list of infrastructure projects a future Trump administration hopes to fund.

2. Banking Groups in Am Law Firms Will Grow in 2017

Despite the Republican party platform calling for a breaking up of the big banks, it is commonly expected for now that Trump’s policies will deregulate the banking and finance sectors, sectors which, on the stock market, have already responded with a significant jump in value. It is not entirely clear which regulations might be in line for the chop (banks have spent so much money on compliance with Dodd-Frank that they reportedly would rather keep it), but either way, our clients have clearly stated a desire to build out their banking practices in anticipation of market growth (driven partly by the projected increased investment in infrastructure), and associates at all levels working for lenders or borrowers can expect a rise in the number of opportunities at major Am Law firms come 2017 both from new lateral partner hires and a general increase in firm business.

3. Where Infrastructure Goes, Expect Real Estate to Follow

The development of infrastructure is intimately tied to the development of other real estate. A moment’s reflection makes this plain. If, for example, we see new sports and entertainment facilities and other commercial construction, surrounding real estate will no doubt be bought up and/or otherwise developed — a well-documented pattern which isn’t rocket science. Many of the firms we work with will be hiring additional real estate attorneys as a consequence of the above, and real estate associates in both transactions and finance representing all participants can expect an even more open lateral market as a result.

4. FCPA Will Continue to Be a Hot Area

Although Republican administrations are known to favor big business, it is important to note that Trump has placed a strong emphasis both on rooting out “corruption” and the stifling of outbound investment: goals his administration are expected to try and achieve by use of the FCPA (among other methods). Enactment of the FCPA has in recent times led to an explosion in the lateral market, with several high-profile hires having been made from government into law firms seeking to build their expertise. Despite recorded criticism of the FCPA by Trump, our clients only see this upward trend continuing, which should expand partnership promotion prospects and the associate lateral market in general.

5. Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Counseling and Litigation Will Continue to Grow in 2017

With high-profile intrusions into both government and private networks compromising the personal information of over 1/3 of the nation’s population over the last several years (take two or three of the biggest intrusions and you’re already at well over 100 million people — not including simple password theft), cybersecurity and data privacy law has been on the uptick for quite some time, and the Trump campaign’s short cybersecurity policy statement can be found here. In the lateral market, law firm counsel and partner lateral hires have come not only from law firms but also (given the new-ish nature of the practice) from cybersecurity companies where lawyers had formerly been building their expertise. Associates can expect their demand to rise as these groups grow, with a preference for attorneys with industry specific counseling and litigation experience (meaning that any associates with experience at the most successful privacy groups in the Am Law 200 will be in high demand at other firms seeking to build out). Expect opportunities at larger AND smaller shops in both in pre-intrusion counseling and post-intrusion investigations and litigation, with an emphasis on the former.

6. An Overall Reduction in White Collar Investigations and a Possible Increase in Federal Court Cases Is Something to Watch Out for

It’s still early days, but with Trump’s avowed dislike of Dodd-Frank, and recent Republican attempts in the form of the Financial Choice Act to roll back its provisions, it would be wise to watch out for changes at the S.E.C. Combine that with S.E.C. budget cuts common to most Republican presidencies and you can see where things might be headed. Attempts to change both the venue of certain S.E.C. cases (throwing them from efficient bench-driven administrative hearings back into federal court with full discovery and jury trials) and a Republican-proposed increase in the standard of evidence required for a conviction may result in the elimination of more cost-efficient administrative hearings and a corresponding drop in actions owing to budget constraints as well as an increase in the number of actions filed in federal court.

7. Other Areas Like Health care and M&A

Obviously, Trump’s election will have all manner of effects on other areas of the law, not least of all health care, and quite possibly M&A. After only 48 hours, however, it is still unclear what these effects might be. A total repeal of Obamacare is considered unlikely, for example, though change is inevitable, and while Trump has reportedly threatened to put the kibosh on AT&T’s Time Warner acquisition and a brief pause in deals is thought likely as companies assess, there’s no consensus at this point regarding the trajectory of the market in these areas other than an expectation of “more of the same” in the short term. If you’d like to be kept abreast of the latest intelligence as we receive it, get in touch or give any of our recruiters a call and we’ll be happy to keep you in the loop.

With the shifting landscape of the legal market, it can be difficult to determine both when and where to lateral. My colleagues and I at Lateral Link are happy to help you make an informed decision on your career. So whether you’re interested in any of the practice areas above or are simply looking to make a career move, give me or my colleagues a call. We look forward to hearing from you!

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