It has never been easier to geographically relocate as a BigLaw associate.

But this is starting to change.

The reason? More in-person interviewing.

Right now, the vast majority of BigLaw firms continue to interview and hire associates remotely via video interviews. But as offices continue to open up and more attorneys go back throughout 2022, more and more firms will turn back to in-person interviews as a part of their recruiting process.

I anticipate that for screening interviews, these will remain by video or phone. But for full round interviews, it's likely that in-person interviews will make a comeback.

Firms will likely pay travel expenses for strong candidates that they want to interview in-person. But there may be fewer candidates called back for these full rounds due to the additional costs, resulting in firms focusing more on local candidates instead.

Nevertheless, the demand for BigLaw associates remains high, including for those trained at firms in another geographic market.

Additionally, there are lots of reasons why geographically relocating is otherwise very straightforward:

• The expansion of the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) to more states across the country means that it's easier for lawyers to get admitted into multiple states at once and/or transfer bar exam results from one state to another.

• Multiple legal markets are very strong right now and the need for talent expands beyond the lawyers that are already practicing there (this is particularly the case when it comes to corporate associate needs in markets like the Bay Area, Boston and New York).

• National firms continue to open new offices in large cities across the U.S., leveraging the firm's practice reputation in its existing offices to market to new clients in the new market.

• Practices at large firms are also "nationalizing," meaning if there is demand for talent in a particular legal service, they will look to staff up across multiple office. In an individual office, the attorneys prioritize service to the local clients, but increasingly attorneys work virtually with others in their practice group across other offices of the firm, as as the work ebbs and flows within each office.

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Here are some of the Frequently Asked Questions that I receive on the BigLaw associate relocation process:

How do I find a legal recruiter for my geographic move?

Most legal recruiters are identified through personal referrals. But if you don't know any attorneys in your target market, this might not be possible. Conduct a Google search and take a look at some online legal recruiter directories. Most recruiters are clear on their websites about who they work with and where. (Through Gridline Search + Consulting, for example, I primarily work with larger law firms in the big U.S. legal markets, using recruiter connections and industry knowledge I gained through my time as a career advisor at Harvard Law.)

I like my current firm. I just need to move geographically for personal reasons. Should I just ask for an office transfer?

Maybe. But does that other office have the practice area that you work in? Is the culture of the other office the same as your current one? Do you know anyone in the new office that would be interested in advocating for your office transfer? Will your current team help you make the move or will it be hard for them to let you go? If the answers to these questions present complications, it may be best to look for a new employer in your target market.

When is the right time to make a geographic move?

As a BigLaw associate, you are most marketable for an associate lateral move with 2-5 years of experience. This is generally true whether you are looking to stay in the same market or make a geographic move.

What if I am not admitted into the state where I plan to move?

Start by taking a look at the bar admission resources provided by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE). If you are a junior associate admitted to a UBE state, you may still be able to port that score to a new UBE state. If you are a senior associate, you may be eligible for "admission by motion" to the new state based on your years of continuous practice in your current state. If something is unclear from a website or written resource, don't rely on word of mouth. Call the state's board of bar examiners directly.

Most firm offices will require that you eventually be admitted into the state where they are located. If you ultimately need to take a new bar exam, sometimes the firm will even give you time off and cover expenses while employed at the new firm.

Will the new firm pay for my relocation expenses?

In most cases, yes they will. In terms of the exact amount and method, this is something that typically gets negotiated when an offer of employment is made through your recruiter.

My spouse got a new job already, so I need to make the move as soon as possible. How long does the process typically take?

Timing for a geographic move as a lateral associate depends on a lot of factors - your target market, your level of experience, your practice, your current firm, your credentials, etc. It could take a few weeks to move or it could take several months. You will want to talk with your recruiter about the urgency of your timing and what you can expect. If it sounds like your search could take a long time, you might ask your current employer if it's possible for you to work remotely while you search for a new job in your new market. (Don't just quit your job and then start searching. If your resume indicates this, it might send a negative signal about your candidacy.)

It's the start of the New Year. You've had your end-of-year review with your law firm. You've received your bonus(es) for your hard work in 2019. You may be thinking, "Is it time for me to seriously consider my long-term plan to relocate?" If you are working at a BigLaw firm, now is definitely a good time to consider a relocation plan.

In my discussions with BigLaw associates over the years, I've found that the decision itself to make a move can take some time. You might realize that you need a change for personal reasons, advancement, training, type of work, etc., but like anyone considering a job change you are concerned that the "grass may not be greener on the other side." (As you go through this process, take a look at my article called "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" that I wrote for Chambers Associate's Career Moves Guide.)

But if geographic relocation is also on the table in 2020 (in addition to a general job change), here are some important things to think about:

If you are considering law firms, start the search sooner than later given the "bonus clock". Most BigLaw firms use the annual year for counting billable hours for the purpose of your annual bonus and any special bonus. If you are at a law firm now where you just received your bonus for last year, it makes sense financially to consider your move sooner than later as the clock for 2020 billable hour has likely also begun at your potential new employer. NOTE: When you move later in the year, there are some law firms that will pay a signing bonus to a new candidate to help make them whole for any lost bonus at their departing firm. But this is not guaranteed and there is wide variation in the firms that will offer this incentive.

If your priority is an in-house position, consider relocating to another law firm as a bridge. When you are a mid-level associate, you might have already started to think about in-house positions at your next step. "Why make a move to another law firm if my ultimate goal is to work as an internal corporate lawyer?" The answer is simple: Most in-house positions go to lawyers that are already in the local market. (Using data from Firm Prospects, I did a deeper analysis on this last year which you can see here.) Take the Boston market for example. The largest company employers in that market for in-house legal positions are in financial services and life sciences. Think Fidelity, Bain Capital, State Street Bank and numerous small and large biopharm companies (Vertex, Novartis, etc.). For their outside counsel, these companies almost exclusively rely on attorneys in the BigLaw firm offices that are local: Ropes & Gray, Goodwin, WilmerHale, Kirkland, etc. While most of these law firms are national (or international) in scope, it is still largely the case that the local office services the local company. As a result, many in-house positions don't even get posted (or, if they do, get posted with a strong front runner in mind) because there is a locally-based outside counsel attorney that is interested and proves to be the perfect fit.

Relocation packages can vary quite a bit between employers (and even for openings within employers). Moving expenses. Bar expenses. Special housing assistance. There is a good amount of variety in how a law firm employer will pay for relocation if you are extended an offer. (This variation is even greater among in-house employers, including the possibility of no relocation assistance at all.) Most of the time, you won't get full details until you get an offer, so it will be up to you and your recruiter to work with the potential employer on what is possible.

Start researching bar admission requirements for your new market. With the growth of the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) and the ability to be admitted by motion for experienced attorneys, there are some good options for getting admitted to the state bar in your new location without having to retake a bar examination. But these options vary considerably state-by-state, particularly when it comes to years. "How many years is the UBE valid for a new state?" "How many years from date of admission of your current bar do you need to be considered for admission by motion in a new state?" The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBEX) website offers very good information on this. But this should not be relied on exclusively. If something is unclear on a website about bar admission, you must call the individual state board of bar examiners office directly to clarify. Most legal employers will want you to be admitted in their state, even if they are not explicit about it. And some employers and positions will provide you with time and money to take it (particularly busy practices at BigLaw firms). Ultimately, it will be important to talk with your recruiter on strategy.

New York City is by far the largest training ground for BigLaw associates. There are roughly 2x as many BigLaw associates in Manhattan alone than there are in the second biggest legal market in the U.S.: Washington, DC. Much of the legal work revolves around New York's status as a global financial capital. As a result, every type of transactional work is available and prevalent in the market including work for investment banks, commercial banks, private equity funds, hedge funds, mutual funds and all the companies that are financed by them. Litigation and regulatory work often revolves around the financial industry as well.

Many associates that work at BigLaw firms in NYC live in Manhattan close to the office. With New York being a 24/7 city, this is tempting. You can eat, run errands, go to the gym, etc. at all times of the day, and then pop in and out of the office when you need to do so. However, this level of convenience may be less important to you as you get older and start to look for more separation between your work life and your home life.

If you've thought about leaving the New York City legal market, now is a good time (see my FAQ on relocation). For junior and midlevel associates specifically, there are a few common reasons to consider it:

• Leaving NYC for large peer legal markets like San Francisco and Washington, DC. The two second largest legal markets in the U.S. are the Bay Area and DC metro area. Both of these markets are notable for their sophistication of clients, as well as large deals and matters. In the Bay Area you'll find a good number of corporate opportunities. In fact, there are many firms around San Francisco that appreciate associates with transactional training at NYC firms. They look to hire attorneys that have worked in NY-style practices like debt finance, M&A, capital markets, funds, private equity and most other types of corporate specialties. Likewise, firms in the DC market appreciate attorneys with New York experience, particularly those with litigation and regulatory experience. The firms in the DC market don't hire as many entry level attorneys as the NY market. Thus, they look to the lateral market often to fill junior and midlevel needs. Additionally, it's relatively easy to waive into the DC bar from NY.

• Leaving NYC to service a different client industry. As noted above, most (though certainly not all) BigLaw work in NYC revolves around the international finance industry. If you want to shift your client focus to a different type of industry, a different legal market may make a lot of sense. Examples include Los Angeles for entertainment; San Francisco or Boston for technology; Boston, San Diego or Philadelphia for health care; Texas or San Francisco for energy; and Chicago or Atlanta for Fortune 500 companies.

• Leaving NYC to change your work/life balance. If you're moving to another BigLaw firm in another geographic market, you are still going to work hard. But there is less of a 24/7 in-office culture in markets other than NYC. In part because other city centers still tend to shut down after typical working hours, you might find more attorneys that work remotely or log in from home. Technology is making this easier and more efficient for employers of all types.

• Leaving NYC for a general change or to develop broader skills. The practice of law is becoming more and more portable. With the advent of the Uniform Bar Exam, it's become easier to relocate as a lawyer from a credentials perspective. And the legal industry as a whole continues to be streamlined, more efficient and consolidated through law firm mergers. Sometimes at NYC BigLaw firms, you can feel like you are becoming too specialized. Because there are so many different types of legal services needed in NYC, specialization makes sense from a business perspective. But if you want to remain in BigLaw while developing a more generalist practice, then moving to another legal market might make sense for you.

If you are thinking of leaving NYC, you'll want to talk to a recruiter that has a network of connections across the major markets. Given my connections, one of my recruiting specialties is associate relocation.

Despite recent indications of a recession being all but "inevitable" within the next 1-2 years, the legal hiring market remains very strong. If you're a BigLaw associate who has been considering a lateral move for a variety of a reasons, you might think now is the wrong time. "What if the recession hits shortly after I start? Won't I be at risk of losing my job as the 'new associate'?"

When it comes to hiring practices, nobody has a perfect crystal ball. But when it comes to your long-term career planning, there are lots of reasons to think of a lateral move now (or soon), before the recession hits.

Here are 3 key reasons:

1. If a firm has an associate opening, it means they are busy and you will get the billable hours that you need to make your mark. Since the 2008 financial crisis, firms have been much more careful when it comes to hiring lateral legal talent. When somebody leaves a practice group as an associate, this associate will not automatically be replaced. The firm may see the move as the result of natural attrition. Or the departing associate consistently did not meet their billable hour targets, so instead of a new hire, their workload/hours is distributed amongst existing associates. In today's economy, when a firm posts an associate lateral need, this means there is work to do and they need the help. More often than not, this means the person that they hire will hit the ground running and will be likely to hit their billable hour targets each year. This is good news for a new lateral associate. It will be easier to demonstrate value to the practice group and firm when (and still if) a recession comes and workflow slows.

2. Your current practice group or firm may not be ready for the recession. Conversely, you may be working at a firm where it's been consistently difficult to hit the firm's annual billable hours targets. Maybe a key partner in your practice group left. Or maybe the workflow for your firm's clients in that practice has just slowed. This is not a good situation to be in during the time of a recession. You want to be at a firm in a practice that has work for you to do. Additionally, if you're working at a firm that's had some management issues or inconsistent profits per partner growth, then the firm as a whole may not be recession-ready. (This was famously the case with my former law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf, which ultimately folded when it could not pay its expenses and debts when the financial crisis hit.)

3. If you're looking to relocate, do it now when most firms are willing to interview out-of-market talent and pay for relocation and bar expenses. Right now, there are tons of open junior and midlevel corporate positions at law firms in markets like the Bay Area and Boston. Because the need is so high and there is a limited pool of talent in these markets, firms are more than willing to look to other markets such as New York for talent to fill the openings. These firms are also willing to pay the additional costs that come from an out-of-market move - specifically relocation expenses as well as reimbursement and time off to take a new state bar exam. If the market slows, firms won't do this as much. So if you're a New York-barred attorney looking to get home to the Bay Area, you might have to figure out a way to take the California bar on your own time and on your own dime (all while keeping your existing job since it's always better to look for a job while you still have one.)

A good recruiter will talk you through the pros and cons of making a lateral move right now, giving you an understanding of the opportunities that are out there and whether you're the right fit. But no matter what, it's worth starting the conversation now. You don't want to wait to a point when legal hiring for lateral positions starts to slow down.

The summertime can feel like an odd time to change jobs as a BigLaw associate. You might have a vacation or two. (Or, at the every least, you might have a welcome slowdown in hours as the partners and clients that you work with are away on their vacations.) You might be on track to make your hours for the year and are worried what might happen to your bonus.

At the same time, you know that a lateral move is in the cards for you at some point for one reason or another (see my earlier article,"Why Lateral?"). So why might you make that move now, as opposed to several months or years from now? Here are 5 good reasons:

1. The lateral hiring market is very, very active. Right now, the number of associate positions at larger law firms across multiple practice areas and major markets is incredibly high. In fact, according to data provided by Firm Prospects, as of today, there are almost 2,000 active associate job postings for attorneys with 1-5 years experience in the major U.S. legal markets (New York, California, DC, Chicago and Boston). If you're trying to do the same work at a different firm, shift your practice or make a geographic move from your current BigLaw firm, chances are there are at least a couple good opportunities out there for you.

2. The number of opportunities could go down soon. Quickly. According to a recent survey of professional economic forecasters, only 15% expect a U.S. recession by the end of 2019; but 60% expect one by the 2020 U.S. election. A recession (or even an economic slowdown) has a huge impact on legal hiring as much of BigLaw legal services is directly tied to the health of the financial services and other major U.S. industries. As a result, the amount of need for experienced associate talent will drop. During the 2008 financial crisis, this drop in need more or less happened overnight.

3. Your marketability might drop the longer you wait. Particularly if you are a midlevel or senior associate, if you wait to long to make a lateral move, you may end up being less marketable to other firms. If you get to your 6th year or more, the number of openings starts to drop dramatically. Firms want to invest in associates that are senior enough to have the right experience, but also junior enough to be trained and developed according to the structure and style of their new firm. This is why you'll see many more openings for "junior" or "midlevel" associates.

4. You might get too deep in a practice are you don't like. Generally speaking, most BigLaw firms want to specialize their associates as quickly as possible. With some firms, this may mean that you don't get your "first choice" practice area when you return from your summer program and start as an entry level associate. The business needs of the particular firm or office might conflict with your personal preference for your career. It might be possible to shift to another practice later on at the same firm, but oftentimes it is not. You may need to make a lateral move to do this. And if you get too much experience in your specialized practice, you might find it hard for another firm to allow you to tweak, adjust or "retool" your practice.

5. More than anything, it's at least worth having a conversation with a recruiter!Recently, I had a conversation with a former Harvard Law advisee who is working at a major NYC firm and thinks he wants to move back home to Los Angeles at some point. For his practice, there are only a limited number of firms that do the type of work that he does, many of whom are hiring. But for him personally, he's only been at his NYC firm for a couple years and he really enjoys the training and experience that he is getting. He knows there is some risk in waiting, but we talked through the openings that exist in Los Angeles for his practice, how long they have been open and what the groups look like. Ultimately, he decided to hold for now. But knowing his goals, I can keep him updated as opportunities are added, changed or dropped. The only way that a recruiter can help you in this way is if you at least start a conversation.

** Side note: If your concern about moving now relates to whether you will be eligible for a full bonus at your new firm at the end of the year, talk to your recruiter. Each firm handles this differently and there are options and strategies to consider.

It's becoming both easier and more popular to make a geographic move as a BigLaw associate. This is the result of a few trends when it comes to the legal labor market:

• The expansion of the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) to more states across the country means that it's easier for lawyers to get admitted into multiple states at once and/or transfer bar exam results from one state to another.

• Multiple legal markets are very strong right now and the need for talent expands beyond the lawyers that are already practicing there (this is particularly the case when it comes to Boston and the Bay Area).

• Generally speaking, the number of associates making a lateral move of some kind is at an all-time high with the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) reporting an average number of 16.5 lateral hires in 2018 amongst a surveyed group of 428 law offices. This represented a 14.4% increase in lateral hiring over 2017.

• National firms continue to open new offices in large cities across the U.S., leveraging the firm's practice reputation in its existing offices to market to new clients in the new market.

• Practices at large firms are also "nationalizing," meaning if there is demand for talent in a particular legal service, they will look to staff up across multiple office. In an individual office, the attorneys prioritize service to the local clients, but increasingly attorneys work virtually with others in their practice group across other offices of the firm, as as the work ebbs and flows within each office.

If you're thinking of making a geographic move, there's never been a better time.

When it comes to considering a geographic move, here are some FAQs for BigLaw associates:

How do I find a legal recruiter for my geographic move?

Most legal recruiters are identified through personal referrals. But if you don't know any attorneys in your target market, this might not be possible. Conduct a Google search and take a look at some online legal recruiter directories. Most recruiters are clear on their websites about who they work with and where. (Through Gridline Search + Consulting, for example, I primarily work with larger law firms in the big U.S. legal markets, using recruiter connections and industry knowledge I gained through my time as a career advisor at Harvard Law.)

I like my current firm. I just need to move geographically for personal reasons. Should I just ask for an office transfer?

Maybe. But does that other office have the practice area that you work in? Is the culture of the other office the same as your current one? Do you know anyone in the new office that would be interested in advocating for your office transfer? Will your current team help you make the move or will it be hard for them to let you go? If the answers to these questions present complications, it may be best to look for a new employer in your target market. (I talk about this further in my article "Why Lateral?")

When is the right time to make a geographic move?

As a BigLaw associate, you are most marketable for an associate lateral move with 2-5 years of experience. This is generally true whether you are looking to stay in the same market or make a geographic move.

What if I am not admitted into the state where I plan to move?

Start by taking a look at the bar admission resources provided by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE). If you are a junior associate admitted to a UBE state, you may still be able to port that score to a new UBE state. If you are a senior associate, you may be eligible for "admission by motion" to the new state based on your years of continuous practice in your current state. If something is unclear from a website or written resource, don't rely on word of mouth. Call the state's board of bar examiners directly.

Most firm offices will require that you eventually be admitted into the state where they are located. If you ultimately need to take a new bar exam, sometimes the firm will even give you time off and cover expenses while employed at the new firm (this is more often provide to corporate associates making a lateral move than to litigation associates).

Will the firm fly me out for an interview? Will they pay the expenses?

When interviewing a candidate from another market, most large firms will start with a screening interview via phone, videoconference or with attorneys or staff located in an office closer to you. After this, they will likely require at least one round of in-person interview. Most large law firms will pay for reasonable expenses related to this trip.

Will the new firm pay for my relocation expenses?

In most cases, yes they will. In terms of the exact amount and method, this is something that typically gets negotiated when an offer of employment is made through your recruiter.

My spouse got a new job already, so I need to make the move as soon as possible. How long does the process typically take?

Timing for a geographic move as a lateral associate depends on a lot of factors - your target market, your level of experience, your practice, your current firm, your credentials, etc. It could take a couple weeks to move or it could take several months. You will want to talk with your recruiter about the urgency of your timing and what you can expect. If it sounds like your search could take a long time, you might ask your current employer if it's possible for you to work remotely while you search for a new job in your new market. (Don't just quit your job and then start searching. If your resume indicates this, it might send a negative signal about your candidacy.)

Like the Bay Area, the city of Boston has a legal market where there are more opportunities for BigLaw lawyers than there are candidates. There are at least 150 active associate openings at AmLaw 200 firms in the Boston market (compare that with less than 70 for the Philadelphia legal market, a metropolitan area that is 50% larger than the Boston metro area). Many of these openings are in highly skilled practice areas like private equity, finance, health law and intellectual property. These practices require a certain type of training that can only be found at other BigLaw firms. Therefore, the Boston legal market looks to larger legal markets (such as New York) for talent.

Even if you have never lived in Boston, here are a few reasons to consider the market for your lateral move:

Center for finance, life sciences and technology. New York revolves around financial services; San Francisco, around technology. Boston has a growing mix of both industries, in addition to being a true center for health care and life sciences work. This produces a wealth of opportunities in terms of clients and, by extension, in-house possibilities.

Different work/life-style. Unlike Manhattan or downtown San Francisco, Boston is not a 24-hour city. Restaurants and shops close in the Financial District (where the bulk of law firms are located). This does not mean that lawyers never work late in Boston. They definitely do. But you're much more likely to find people that commute in before 9am and then do their work from home in the late evening hours, as opposed to Manhattan where physically staying in the office past 8pm is not uncommon.

Interesting, affordable places to live. Much is said about Boston's lack of housing affordability, and this is certainly true when it comes to rental units. There aren't enough of them. But Boston is a town where professionals tend to own. My husband and I live in a house in the South Shore beach town of Hull, which is just a 25 minute ferry ride into Boston's Financial District. For the cost of our home, you could maybe buy a small 1-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn Heights (and that would mean a 1 hour+ commute to Midtown). There are lots of towns and neighborhoods around Boston like mine, and keep in mind that you're likely to have a New York market salary to spend on your place to live.

Ski in the winter; beach in the summer. From the center of Boston, it takes less than two hours to get to the beaches of Cape Cod, the mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire and more. Boston is a place where it does not take too long to "get away." In addition, it is city rich with history, museums and a theater scene. (I don't go to any "sports games," but you know the town's reputation when it comes to that.)

If you're a BigLaw associate working in California, New York or Boston, you may have notice a popular trend recently: new local offices of national BigLaw firms. In a crowded market for legal services, firms are focusing more on strategic plans that leverage existing strengths and underserved market opportunities. As a result, BigLaw firms are opening in new markets that have the client bases that match these strategic plans. A new office by a BigLaw firm is done a few different ways:

• Acquiring a local office of another firm and putting it under the BigLaw firm's name (as Hogan Lovells did with Collara, a Boston-only litigation boutique);

• Acquiring an attorney group from a particular practice group of an existing BigLaw firm in the market (as Willkie Farr did with a group of Paul Hastings corporate attorneys in Palo Alto to set up their own Silicon Valley office)

• Moving existing attorneys at the firm from other office (as Fenwick & West did just last month when setting up it's new Santa Monica (i.e., "Silicon Beach") office)

When BigLaw firms open up a new office, this presents a unique opportunity for junior or midlevel associates considering a possible move.

Here are some reasons why junior and midlevel associates might consider a move to a new office of a BigLaw firm:

1. You will know your co-workers really really well. New offices of BigLaw firms are almost always very small, with 10-15 attorneys at the most. If one of your concerns with your current BigLaw firm is that it feels like a big place where people don't know each other very well, then this kind of move might make sense.

2. The opportunity for business development is very real. BigLaw firms are getting better and better at offering associates opportunities for business development, whether it be through developing client pitches or otherwise. But, at the end of the day, the existing billable work is always the first priority for associates. With a BigLaw new office, business development is essential. These offices have set up a "foothold" in a particular market and/or practice and the objective is to use that foothold to grow, and grow quickly.

3. Partnership prospects might be stronger. Given points #1 and #2 above, it might be easier to identify a clear path towards partnership in a new office of a big firm. People will know and rely on your business generation skills and as the office scales up, they will need attorneys that have been there from the beginning and are in it for the long-haul.

4. You can help shape the long-term vision of the office. One of the biggest advantages of moving to a new office of a BigLaw firm is that you have the opportunity to shape the long-term vision for the office. Lots of new offices are being set up to take advantage of new and emerging legal practice areas like cybersecurity, data privacy and blockchain/cryptocurrency practice. Firms rely on junior attorneys to learn and understand these new and complicated practices, as these attorneys are more likely to be "tech-savvy" with an ear to the ground

New offices of BigLaw firms aren't for everyone. There is some risk associated with working at them as an associate - what if the firm does not generate enough work for you to make your billable hours? But for many BigLaw associates, new offices can provide a lot general excitement and entrepreneurial opportunity.

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.

If you’re a corporate or transactional associate that feels stuck, maybe you need a change - not just of firm, but of location.

Different legal markets in the U.S. can offer different opportunities for corporate associates. Here are some examples on what different legal markets have to offer corporate associates looking to make a lateral move:

• The Bay Area - for getting in-house at a tech company. Obviously the Bay Area is most known for its ties to the technology industry, and it’s what drives legal services as well. When I was a career advisor at Harvard Law, one of the most popular long-term career goals was: “I’d like to be in-house at a start up or established tech company like Google.” These types of positions are competitive and increasingly require more and more firm experience. But the best way to lay the ground work is to do company-side work at the firms that are in the tech companies’ backyard.

• Boston - for wealth and investment management. At large law firms across the country, lots of private client, wealth and investment management practices have moved to smaller and midsize firms. In “old money” Boston, these practices still exist at some of the most prominent firms in the market. The practices are great for corporate attorneys that like to work directly with clients and enjoy relationship-building.

• New York - for being a Big Deal Lawyer. There’s no other legal market in the world that will provide the opportunity to work on big capital markets and M&A deals like New York City. If you enjoy the rush that comes with quick turnarounds and same-day pricing decisions (as well as seeing your name attached to big deal announcements) then New York is the place to be or stay.

• Chicago and Atlanta - for working with particular Fortune 500 companies. There are some major Fortune 500 companies based in the Midwest and Southeast. Some companies started there, while others strategically chose their headquarters in these regions for cost and/or tax reasons. When they need help on a major financing, purchase or sale, they look to those big firms in the nearest cities with big legal markets: Chicago and Atlanta.

• DC - for being everyone’s financial regulatory expert. If you are a corporate associate that enjoys getting in the weeds and staying up-to-date on federal securities law and other financial regulations, you may need to be a lawyer in the D.C. market. The demand for specialized financial regulatory experts is always high. And lots of firms looks for corporate associates trained on “deal work” who are now looking for a tighter focus.

Your next move as an associate should be one that furthers your long-term career goals.

Ultimately, a physical move may provide you with the best opportunity for long-term career satisfaction as an attorney.