Bloomberg Law: Big Law Firms Keep Spending Money to Make Money
A recent Bloomberg Law article by Tatyana Monnay examines the escalating cost of securing top-end lateral partner talent, with elite firms now spending upwards of $30 million in pay and bonuses to land leading rainmakers — deals increasingly structured with guaranteed compensation packages of up to three years.
Tad Gruman, Managing Director at Macrae, comments in the piece on the dynamics driving this market:
"The firms at the very top of the echelon have separated themselves from the rest and they're competing for the same talent. Firms are now sometimes even going down market to pull someone up who has clients who can stomach a rate increase."
Gruman notes that a rainmaker's book of business starts at a minimum of $15 million on the low end, with firms anticipating further growth following a strategic lateral hire — though the precise value of client portability only becomes clear once a partner is through the door.
"None of this is new, it's just happening much more frequently and with a lot more zeroes behind it," he adds. "There's never been a recruiting landscape like there is now."
The article also explores how the expansion of non-equity partner tiers is reshaping firm structures, and how continued merger activity is prompting more lawyers to consider lateral moves than at any previous point in the market.