Biglaw

The Thing That Matters The Most In The Associate Lateral Market

What Would You Rather: Biglaw Edition.

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We’ve talked… a bunch about the hotness of the Biglaw lateral market. By now, you know the drill — associate talent is at a premium and Biglaw has just been throwing money (in the form of special bonuses and raises) to ensure they have the personnel they need. Hell, even Cravath has changed the very model of their business to accommodate the changing environment.

With so much movement in the Biglaw market, it makes you wonder — what are associates actually looking for when they lateral? Over at Bloomberg Law, Roy Strom takes a look at some data, comparing hiring and attrition trends over the last four years at the top 10 most prestigious firms, as ranked by Vault and the top 10 quality of life firms, also as ranked by Vault. Because here’s the thing — as pointed out by my colleague Staci Zaretsky — none of the firms on the quality of life list made it into the Top 10 of the Vault prestige ranking.

As Strom points out, the most prestigious firms are doing a lot more hiring right now:

The 10 firms voted as the most prestigious hired, on average, 28 lawyers from January through mid-July from 2017 to 2020, according to an analysis by Decipher, which provides lateral hiring due diligence services for law firms.

This year, those firms have hired 64 associates on average. It’s a 131% increase over the historical average. Meanwhile, the top 10 “Best Firms to Work For” have hired 37% more associates so far this year than they have on average over the previous four years (35 compared to 26).

Of course, that could just mean that the quality of life firms aren’t looking for as many associates. But it makes us wonder — what is more important to associates, prestige or quality of life?

So, dear readers, what do you think? Assuming money is the same (as most of Biglaw is on the same lockstep compensation grid), which is more important in considering a firm as a lateral?

Which is more important in considering a lateral position?

  • Prestige (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Quality of Life (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 0

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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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