Information is power.

This is especially the case when you are considering a lateral associate move to another large law firm. As I stated in a previous article, you always want to make sure that if you are making a lateral move, you are doing so with real purpose. You want to lateral to a new firm that will offer a real change and meets your short or long-term career goals. To this end, it is important to have good data and information about potential opportunities and new firm employers.

When I work with lateral associate candidates, I offer to create a detailed spreadsheet of opportunities that includes as much information and data as possible.

Below are important pieces of data that I share with candidates so they can make good decisions regarding applications and, hopefully, offers:

1. Details on the nature of the position. Information about the specific associate need is an important first piece of information. Is there are an actual position opening or would your recruiter be submitting to a firm "opportunistically"? How long has any position been open? Has it been open before? If so, how frequently? Has the group for this position been growing or shrinking? All of these questions are important for determining the urgency of the opening. In other words, will you miss a chance at a firm that hires infrequently if you don't act quickly or do you have some time to decide? This information also helps manage expectations in terms of how quickly a firm may get back to you regarding your candidacy.

2. Details on the practice group and need. A job description can tell you a lot about the qualifications and experience necessary for an open associate position, but it does not tell you the whole story. Extra data and information may be necessary to understand the strength of your match to the position and group. Are there are open positions in the group? What types of candidates have they hired recently? What are the experience profiles of other lateral associates in the group? All of this is information that a recruiter should be able to provide to you.

3. Salary and bonus information. In the last year, there has been so much movement and change in associate salary and bonus amounts. This information is not as lock step and consistent as it used to be. Your recruiter should be able to collate the most up-to-date data on both of these items so you have an understanding of what you might be losing (or gaining) in terms of compensation if you make a lateral move.

4. Demographics. How many women are in the group? How many persons of color are equity partners at the firm? What does the LGBTQ+ presence at the firm look like? These types of questions are rightly important to lots of associates looking to make a lateral move. They want to make sure there are advancement and mentorship opportunities that match their backgrounds. And of course, candidates also want to make sure they will feel a real sense of inclusion at their new firm employer.

5. Timeline to partnership. Many large law firms will now say there is no exact number of years that it will take to make partner. The process has become more complicated and extended with positions like counsel and non-equity partner used as possible stepping stones. This is where data can be very helpful. Who was made partner recently at the firm and how long did it take them? Did any of them lateral from another firm? If so, how many and when?

6. Specific transition opportunities to in-house and government. Many associates look to make a lateral move for the purpose of a stronger platform for in-house and government opportunities down the road. But what do these opportunities actually look like? Your recruiter should be able to pull information about specific in-house and government employers that have hired associates from a potential firm employer.

If there are other pieces of information or data that you need about a potential firm employer, ask your recruiter! Even if there is not a way to provide data upfront, they should still be able to give you an honest answer. It's your career and you're entitled to have the information you need to make a decision about an application to a new firm, let alone a firm offer.

November 2020 can seem like an unusual time to make a lateral move as a BigLaw associate. There are so many different types of uncertainty on every level. Why consider making a job change as well?

The #1 reason to consider a move right now is opportunity. Since the end of the summer, I've seen a steady uptick in associate openings at law firms. In fact, as of the writing of this post, there are nearly 2,000 open lateral associate postings at the Top 200 law firms in the country. This is fairly evenly split between litigation and transactional positions.

The number of opportunities has especially ticked up in the largest legal markets where I assist associates on their lateral moves - New York, DC, Boston, Los Angeles and the Bay Area. According to data from Firm Prospects, here are the the number of current associate openings across these major regions:

• 270 open intellectual property associate positions

• 205 open litigation associate positions

• 144 open M&A associate positions

• 79 open banking and finance associate positions

• 64 open capital markets associate positions

• 39 open tax associate positions

• 32 open bankruptcy & restructuring associate positions

• 26 open real estate associate positions

If you're a BigLaw associate that has been considering a lateral move, here's are 4 reasons why it might be worth starting the search now and not waiting until the new year:

• More candidate competition for open positions in 2021 than there is right now. If you wait to start your lateral move in 2021 in order to wait because you want to wait for more certainty or stability in the hiring world or world at large, you will very likely be competing with a larger group of candidates. I expect that January and February will be very busy months for BigLaw associates looking to move, but there is no guarantee that the same type and number of openings will be there as there are right now.

• Current openings represent a very real and active business need. Law firms have been just as cautious as candidates when it comes to hiring during an unprecdented global pandemic. So any associate opening that is needed in a real estate group or finance practice or otherwise represents a true and likely urgent business need on the part of the firm. Firms would not seek to add to their attorney headcount in 2020 if there wasn't a real need.

• Ability to negotiate a start date in the new year. If you are interested in making a move, but don't want to actually start until 2021, you will likely be able to negotiate a start date for that time. Think of the timing: If you apply now, wait to hear about interviews, conduct a couple rounds and then wait for an offer, this could likely put your offer into December or later anyway. At that point, it's easy to negotiate a 2021 start time.

• Geographic relocation is front of mind for you. I've talked to multiple associates since the start of the pandemic that have relocated to a different location from their place of employment. Maybe they want to be closer to extended family for help. Maybe they are looking to save money on an expensive Manhattan/Brooklyn apartment. Or maybe they are just ready for a personal change of scenery. If you've done this and your firm does not have an office or practice opportunity in your new location, now is the time to take a look at opportunities. With recent positive news on a coronavirus vaccine, it's possible that some firms will ask employees to return to the office sooner than expected.

Even if you are not completely set on a lateral move or relocation, it's at least worth a conversation. You can schedule a free career advising meeting with me at calendly.com/gridline/careeradvising.

Associates make lateral moves to other firms for personal and professional reasons at all different times of the year. But why would an associate make a move at the end of the calendar year? With many firms providing their associates with their year-end bonuses at the start of the new year, wouldn't it make sense to wait before you leave your current firm?

Not necessarily.

First, let's look at the actual numbers. As you can see from the chart above, according to data collected by Firm Prospects, there were more lateral BigLaw associate moves across the U.S. in the last three months of 2018 (approximately 1,396) then there were in any of the previous three quarters of the year. This marked almost a 100% increase in the number of lateral associate moves compared to the third quarter of 2017.

So what accounts for this bump in lateral movements in last year's fourth quarter? A few things:

1. An overall strong market for lateral associate moves. Generally speaking the market for making a lateral associate move has been incredibly strong in the last year or so. Firms across the country have a high need for experienced mid-level and senior-level associates, especially in practices like cybersecurity & data privacy, real estate, intellectual property and all types of corporate work. As of the date of this article, there are over 2,700 open lateral associate positions at the top 200 U.S. law firms alone.

2. Better compensation and relocation packages for lateral associates. Because of the fierce competition in the lateral associate market in the last year, more law firms are offering stronger compensation packages to lateral associates that they hire. This includes relocation expenses for geographic moves, covering time and cost for taking a new state bar exam, signing bonuses and/or (most relevant to moves in the final quarter of the year) covering the associate's lost year-end bonus amount from the departing firm. Of course, no firm is offering all of these incentives and even the ones that do make such decisions on the basis of individual candidates and positions. But certainly more firms are offering them for their lateral associate positions that are particularly difficult to fill.

3. Law firms playing "catch-up" on filling lateral associate positions at the year end. The recruiting staff at law firms are pulled in lots of different directions. Oftentimes, the start of the calendar year is used to focus on and fulfill the most important strategic recruiting goals set by the management of the firm and the particular office. This often means a focus on strategic partner acquisitions for specific practice ares. Once partner acquisitions are made, there is often a lag to see if associates that used to work with the partner at their previous firm are interested in making a move. When it gets into to the summertime, law firm recruiters often shift their focus away from lateral recruiting altogether to summer associate programs and on-campus interviewing instead. (The legal recruiting industry often calls the relatively brief period in July & August when law firms do their entry level recruiting as "the compression.") As a result of the above, the fall and winter become a good time for recruiters and the firm as a whole to focus on lateral associate hiring.

4. Associates evaluating short-term and long-term career goals as the end of the year approaches. It is cliche, but the approach of the start of a new calendar year causes people to critically self-evaluate their personal and professional situations. Lawyers are no different. And increasingly I've found that law firm associates have become more keen to frequently check in on their professional careers and see if a move makes sense. More and more associates are seeing that it is no longer the case that to make partner, you should remain at one firm for your entire professional career. Depending on your practice area, working group and general cultural fit, a lateral move may be necessary to meet your ultimate long-term career goal.

DATA SOURCE: Lateral data copyright 2018 Firm Prospects, LLC. All rights reserved. Used with permission. Not for redistribution. Graphic by DuelingData.

I've written before about changing markets as a corporate associate. This article looks at the broader movement of law firm associates that have changed geographic markets and moved to new law firms, looking at data from 2018. Here are some findings regarding some of the key "destination markets" for associates last year:

Lateral data copyright 2018 Firm Prospects, LLC. All rights reserved. Used with permission. Not for redistribution. Graphic by DuelingData.

• The Bay Area and New York lead the pack for destination markets, driven by high corporate needs. Attorneys that do some type of transactional work flock to the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City markets. Even though the Bay Area is generally a smaller legal market than NY and DC, the needs for corporate attorneys to service tech companies, their buyers, their targets and their financiers. This need will likely grow in 2019 (see here).

• DC transfers were diverse in original location and practice. The DC market had 160 transfer associates in 2018, which excludes the number of associates coming to firms from judicial clerkships (significant in the DC market). These associates came from all over the country. This can partly be attributed to the fact that the DC bar has a much easier admission process for laterals than, for example, California. Practice areas were similarly diverse with DC drawing in associates to fill corporate, litigation, real estate, tax and IP needs, amongst others.

• Boston's lateral associate needs were significant compared to the city size. Boston attracted about 100 new associates to the market last year. This is the 6th largest transfer destination market, even though the metropolitan area is only the 10th largest in the country. New firms along with active financial services and life sciences industries keep the needs for associate talent high, especially for corporate practice.

Expect the trend of lateral associate geographic movement to increase in numbers over the next few years for a few reasons:

1. Large firms will continue move into new markets (see Boston) and partner groups will continue to move as firms compete for books of business.

2. Some practice areas like tech transactions, real estate and data privacy are in such high-demand for trained talent that firm offices will have to look out of their geographic areas to find the talent.

3. The liberalization of state bar admission via adoption of the UBE will make it easier and easier for associates to make themselves marketable to a new firm in a new market.

The 2019 annual advisory on the state of the legal market from the Law Firm Group at Citi Private Bank and Hildebrandt Consulting was just released. The report is an authority on demand for legal services from major US-based law firms.

The report projects a 6-7% increase in the demand for legal services in 2019. But not all firms will benefit equally from this growth.

The report identifies higher performance at the biggest law firms (the AmLaw 50) and firms outside the top firm rankings (“niche” law firms).

In terms of findings that may be of interest to potential lateral attorney candidates at large law firms:

1. Expect M&A to remain the main “practice area driver.” That being said, the survey also found that other major practice areas should have a good year, including BigLaw standbys like finance, capital markets, white collar, investigations, IP and real estate.

2. Surveyed firms plan to grow their income partner, counsel AND associate counts. This is good news for associates looking to move up the ladder or move to a new firm.

3. Increased equity partner turnover and retirement in 2019. The survey noted a recent shift from survey firms for lateral equity partner hires over internal promotions. And when it comes to retirements, Baby Boomer demographics work in the favor of associates from other generations; the survey notes that the average mandatory retirement age for firms is at 67.

A recent article in the Financial Times discusses the increase in demand for “business crime” lawyers in the US and UK over the past decade. In the US, “white collar” attorneys are concentrated in the New York and Washington, DC markets due to the focus on the financial industry and federal regulation, respectively.

Only 99 white-collar specific positions were posted in NY and DC between 2015 and 2018, according to data from Firm Prospects, LLC.

This represents just 10% of the total litigator job postings in NY and DC during the same period. This does not necessarily mean that white collar is not a “hot” practice area. The relatively low number is probably the result of a couple factors:

• A lot of white collar attorney positions aren’t posted. Firms in NY and DC typically desire experienced white collar attorneys with government or regulatory experience (e.g., US Attorney’s Offices, the DOJ, the SEC, etc.). White collar litigators at firms interact with attorneys at these government agencies frequently enough that it may be easy to identify candidates through referrals, thus making a job posting unnecessary.

• Some firms may hire “general litigators” to do white collar work as part of their practice. Some firms may not be able to rely on white collar work on its own to support their litigation practice. Therefore anyone hired to do white collar work may also practice in other types of litigation and regulatory work.