Category Archives: Lateral Partners

Turning the Corner on the Big Roller Coaster Ride of BigLaw

After almost a decade of continuous ascent in the categories of revenue, profits, salaries and bonuses since the last deep doldrums we experienced following the collapse of the dot-com bubble, BigLaw’s current plunge from the stratosphere feels to most of our players to be more perilous than ever. The prevailing sense of fear was exemplified this week by the venerable Stroock & Stroock & Lavan in announcing that as part of its keep-the-boat-afloat strategy, it is offering its incoming associate class a $75,000 payout to any rookie who elects not to jump on board, eclipsing the significance of Skadden’s historic offer earlier this year to pay associates at a rate of 33 percent of base to take a premature sabbatical.

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The Record 2509 2008 U.S. Partner Laterals

In the midst of these current turbulent market waters, a total of 2509 partners at AmLaw 100 and 200 firms managed to successfully jump ship in 2008. The biggest winners were K&L Gates (185 partner acquisitions), Reed Smith (74), DLA Piper (58), Jones Day (57) and Alston & Bird (53), while the biggest losers were Akin Gump (59 partner defections), Heller Ehrman (47 pre-dissolution), Thelen (46 pre-dissolution), Mayer Brown (45), and, K&L Gates (again) (40).

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