Which BigLaw firms are hiring the most lateral partners?
“In a flat or contracting market, the only way to grow demand is to take market share from your competitors at the top,” Frank Lopez, the chair at Paul Hastings, told Bloomberg Law.
Frank Lopez, the chair at Paul Hastings, is hiring partners away from rivals with the aim of creating “exponential impact,” he told Bloomberg Law.
During the first six months of the law firm’s fiscal year, billable hours increased 12%, Bloomberg Law reports. That’s four times higher than the average for the nation’s 50 top-grossing firms, based on figures for the first half of 2024.
Paul Hastings is projecting that its billable hours will increase 10% by the end of the year.
“In a flat or contracting market, the only way to grow demand is to take market share from your competitors at the top,” Lopez told Bloomberg Law.
Paul Hastings’ lateral partner hiring trails only one firm in the top 50, according to a Bloomberg Law chart of lateral hiring through July of this year. These firms were on top:
• Kirkland & Ellis, 71 partners
• Paul Hastings, 44 partners
• Greenberg Traurig, 35 partners
• DLA Piper, 32 partners
• Holland & Knight, 28 partners
