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The Lateral Partner Process: Three Perspectives

By Dana Mesh, Esq., Howard Parris, Esq and Mari Passananti, Esq.
September 03, 2003

According to The American Lawyer, fully 40% of partners in the AmLaw 200 firms will move laterally at least once as partners. This is an astonishing statistic, since lateral partner movement was virtually unheard of a generation ago. Freed from the stigma that once haunted a partner who abandoned his partnership, today's law partners tend to be pragmatists who no longer view their firms as homes for life. Instead, they see them as vehicles to drive their businesses to higher levels. These days, law firm lateral recruitment has become big business. An entire lateral partner recruiting industry ' one of the country's youngest professions ' has emerged to help guide candidates and law firms through the complicated, and often emotionally charged, business of moving partners. In this article, we take a brief look at lateral partner recruitment from the different perspectives of the law firms, the candidates and the recruiters.

Law Firm's Perspective

From the law firm's perspective, while the payoff can be significant, bringing in a lateral partner is a difficult process ' one which many firms are not properly equipped to handle. Like any merger or acquisition transaction, the firm must pay a significant amount of time and attention to the process. The forward momentum of the 'deal' must be maintained. This is where the value of working with a high quality recruiter will be most evident. A firm that has a good relationship with a recruiter can rely on that recruiter to help guide it through the process. Working with a recruiter and focusing on the right issues can result in a lateral acquisition which is a 'home run' for the firm, in which the lateral partner brings new expertise, new business, new clients and new energy to the firm. In working with their recruiter, firms can reduce the potential risks associated with adding lateral partners by focusing on the following issues.

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