Bloomberg Law: Corporate Lawyers Cash in on 'Tsunami' as Firms Target Partners
Writing for Bloomberg Law, Mike Vilensky examines the surge in transactional partner hiring that is reshaping Big Law strategy across the US market.
Drawing on Bloomberg Law's Leading Law Firms survey, the piece documents a clear shift: banking and finance has overtaken litigation as the top sector firms are prioritizing for growth. Combined lateral partner hires in banking, finance, M&A, corporate, and securities across the surveyed firms outpaced litigation hires by a considerable margin over the past year — a reversal from the 2025 survey, when litigation led all practice areas as firms navigated an uncertain economic and political picture. The current conditions driving this moment include a more permissive regulatory environment for dealmaking, strong capital markets, landmark IPOs, and sustained deal flow linked to AI-related activity and private capital.
Rose Corbett, Managing Director at Macrae in New York, comments in the piece:
"Transactional practices are on fire, while others might be taking a back seat. The M&A markets are back, and there's a robust deal flow for law firms at the top of the food chain."
She also addresses the question of longer-term positioning:
"Things are bound to change if the administration changes. You're still going to need both general transactional practices and litigation practices, always, and firms will have to pivot at some point if they've overinvested in one."
The article includes perspectives from managing partners and firm leaders at Baker Botts, Paul Hastings, Paul Weiss, Kirkland & Ellis, Miles & Stockbridge, Squire Patton Boggs, and Mayer Brown, alongside survey data illustrating how each firm is allocating lateral partner hiring across practice areas.