The premise
A lateral partner is an acquisition, not a hire.
Is it accretive? Is it strategic? What does it actually serve?
Those are the questions a company asks before it buys anything. Our founder, Richard Brock, put them at the center of his book on lateral talent acquisition, Win the Talent Game. They are the questions we ask, and advise our clients to ask, about every partner-level opportunity.
Either the partner is gone within five years, or is still there and not delivering the business they were hired to bring. Each one costs the firm hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation, lag time and search fees, and a great deal of leadership attention. The rest of this page is about how a firm stays on the other side of that number.
Established before you meet anyone
The acquisition standard
- VerifiedWhat is genuinely portableWhich relationships are the partner’s own and which are institutional to the firm they are leaving. Courts draw that line, and so do we, before anyone relies on a number.
- ReadThe story behind the movesWhy the past moves happened, whether the stated reason for this one has stayed consistent, and whether the business plan stands up to a hard read.
- MappedFit with your existing strengthsWhere the practice compounds what you already do well, rather than duplicating a bench you have or importing rates and expectations that will never reconcile with yours.
- The standardAccretive from day oneIf a candidate does not clear it, we say so, including when they are the one everybody wants. Common sense sometimes outranks the numbers, and we will tell you when it does.
Have someone in mind
Thinking about a specific hire?
One call is usually enough to know whether the market holds what you need, and what it will take to land it.
The framework
Three things decide whether a lateral holds.
Money is why a partner takes the first call, and it is not about buying lawyers. It is whether they can make more on an ongoing basis: through your compensation structure, through client conflicts that end when they leave, or through a footprint and bench that let the book grow.
How things are done around here. It shows in the comp system, the work ethic, and the way partners treat each other and the staff. Partners have walked away from a raise because of culture alone. We have watched it happen.
The relationships at their current firm can hold a partner in place even when the money says move. The relationships they see at yours can pull them across. Your own lawyers are the most persuasive recruiters you have, if the camaraderie is real.
Cash, culture, and camaraderie. Every candidate we bring you has been tested against all three.
The process
How a search actually runs
- 01IdentifyOne question before any nameWhy should a lateral move to your firm? If the answer is not compelling, we work on that first, because a good partner will not think of a reason you cannot state yourself. Then a defined list, approached directly and quietly. Elite partners are not reading job posts.
- 02VetThe LPQ, and the questions behind itA thorough Lateral Partner Questionnaire, kept concise, because lawyers hate a thirty-page one. Then the qualitative read that no form will give you, and a business plan tested rather than admired.
- 03Land72 hours. Three meetings. One accountable person.We ask the firms we work with to respond inside 72 hours, because anything over a week tells a good partner the firm is not interested. Three meetings, four at the outside. One person owning the checklist so nothing stalls. Time kills deals.
Further reading
The parts that do not fit on one page.
- Eighteen ways a lateral hire goes wrongThe recurring mistakes, explained. Most firms recognize four or five as their own.
- What you may and may not ask in lateral diligenceWhere the line falls, which rules draw it, and why crossing it is worse than doing no diligence at all.
- What a lateral partner is actually worthWhy a minimum book filters out the best acquisition you will see this year.
Start here
Tell us what you are trying to build.
One conversation is enough to know what you are really looking for, and what it will take to bring them across.
Exclusive, retained engagements. Nationwide reach. Every candidacy held in strict confidence, because one breach ends a search.