Lateral Hiring Reaches Five-Year High Despite Q4 Slowdown

Law360 reported that large US law firms closed 2025 with higher lateral hiring totals than 2024, despite a year-end slowdown, as demand for partners and counsel remained strong. According to new data from legal data company Firm Prospects, the 200 largest US firms by revenue demonstrated sustained appetite for experienced lateral talent.

While the 200 largest firms hired 2,879 lateral lawyers in the fourth quarter—a 21.3% decline from the previous quarter—they brought on 13,205 lateral hires throughout 2025, representing a 6.9% increase over 2024. Partner moves reached a five-year high of 3,009 in 2025, a 10.1% increase from 2024, while counsel hiring climbed to a five-year high of 1,974, up 12.3% from 2024.

Geographically, partner hiring in 2025 remained concentrated in major legal hubs, led by New York with 608 hires and followed by Washington, DC, with 469. The capital posted the strongest year-over-year growth among major markets, surging 31.4%—a trend recruiters attributed to an influx of attorneys leaving federal agencies.

Jon Truster, a partner at Macrae, said firms' hiring closely tracked a pickup in mergers and acquisitions and private equity activity. "Firms are pretty good about being forward-looking when they can see where the market's going," Truster said, pointing to capital growth as a key driver of hiring across practices such as fund finance, structured and leveraged finance, private credit and special situations.

Read the full Law360 article by Xiumei Dong here: Lateral Hiring Finished 2025 Strong Despite Q4 Dip

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