Timing Your Lateral Partner Move

This is the latest installment in a series of posts from Lateral Link’s team of expert contributors. Amy Savage is a Principal based in our Washington D.C. office, where she focuses on lateral partner placements. Amy earned her J.D. from Georgetown and has been a featured speaker on legal career issues at Yale Law, Virginia Law, Georgetown Law, and NALP. Amy has developed an extensive network of law firm contacts in her decade plus of legal recruiting, which gives her unique insight into how law firms make hiring decisions.

Timing Your Lateral Partner Move: Should You Start Your Search in the Fourth Quarter?

Are you considering a lateral move, but concerned that it is too late in the year to start your search? You are not alone. One of the most frequent questions we field from partners is whether it makes sense to start a search in Q4.

Here are a few of the factors we discuss with partners considering a Q4 search:

• Distributions. A key factor for equity partners is the timing of year-end distributions. That makes sense; for some partners, year-end distributions account for more than half of their earnings. This is a good time to pull out your partnership agreement and review the terms affecting distributions. Firms usually delay payment of distributions for specific periods of time following the end of their fiscal years, and you need to take that into account when coordinating the timing of your departure. That said, the timing of a distribution is not necessarily a reason to delay your search – many hiring firms will offer incentives to offset money partners leave behind.
• Demand. Another factor is whether there is demand in your practice area. As we move into Q4 this year, demand for lateral partners is rising in several areas: corporate M&A; litigation (especially specialized litigation like antitrust, white collar, or securities); and IP. If you specialize in one of those practice areas and have portable business, you may want to take advantage of the market and start your search while demand is high.
• Strategic Needs. At the beginning of the year, firms often have lengthy “wish lists” of searches. As the year comes to a close, however, firms become more strategic about their partner needs because they have a better sense of which practices present the greatest opportunities for growth. These are searches that the firms are willing to invest in and that have the full support of management, which may present unique opportunities for you to strengthen your practice.
• Transition and Integration. A late-year move can also ease your transition and integration into the new firm. Other partners and clients have returned from their summer vacations, which make introductions and integration more effective. More importantly, it allows the firm to integrate you – and your clients – by year end, so that you are positioned to start 2018 with a bang. You will start generating revenue earlier in the year and you will have better financials at the end of your first full year at the firm.
• Beat the Rush. Every January we see a surge of interest from partners considering lateral moves. If you are willing to start your search in Q4, you can avoid that wave of applicants. That means your candidacy will get more attention, and that you will be a step ahead of the competition.
• Compensation. If you are undercompensated at your current firm and will make significantly more elsewhere, the longer you wait to start a search, the more money you lose. Some partners will double (even triple) their compensation by moving to a new firm and would forgo hundreds of thousands of dollars by delaying their searches another three months.
• Start Dates. Exploring opportunities in Q4 does not mean that you have to move in 2017, but it does get the ball rolling. It may take several months to develop a business plan, interview, and negotiate the terms of the offer. Even if the offer comes in before year-end, in most cases you can accept an offer but delay your start date.

So should you start your search now, or wait until 2018? Before making your decision connect with a reliable legal recruiter who has access to law firm intelligence in your market. If you have questions about the timing of your search, please feel free to contact me at asavage@LateralLink.com.

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Lateral Link is one of the top-rated international legal recruiting firms. With over 14 offices world-wide, Lateral Link specializes in placing attorneys at the most prestigious law firms and companies in the world. Managed by former practicing attorneys from top law schools, Lateral Link has a tradition of hiring lawyers to execute the lateral leaps of practicing attorneys. Click ::here::to find out more about us.