From East to West, an Uptick in Lateral Partner Hires
Posted by Ross Todd
January 12, 2010 3:12 PM
The Recorder's Amanda Royal writes, "Lateral season is officially in swing, after not showing up last year at the usual time. Four moves were announced Monday, following a busy first week of the year. Morrison & Foerster picked up venture lawyer William Choe, Winston & Strawn recruited ERISA litigator James Baker, and K&L Gates drew IP litigators Karineh Khachatourian and Bryan Sinclair. Texas energy firm Vinson & Elkins also says it's hiring after opening an office in Silicon Valley this week."
Royal spoke with recruiter Lawrence Watanabe, who placed the two MoFo laterals. He called Silicon Valley California's hottest region for lateral activity.
"A lot of people that are moving are involved with technology, and I think you will continue to see that for the first half of this year," Watanabe told Royal. "A lot of chairmen at the end of last year said they are prepared to be far more aggressive in 2010 than they were in 2009."
Avis Caravello, who placed two laterals at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman last week, told Royal that after last year "everything was in absolute stasis" and recently lateral hiring has picked up. "What you are seeing right now is lateral movement based on pent-up demand by both law firms and candidates, combined with a more optimistic outlook for 2010," Caravello said.
Meanwhile, Gina Passarella, writing in The Legal Intelligencer, noted that East Coast recruiters sounded a little more muted than their West Coast counterparts in assessing the current market. "The outlook for lateral movement in 2010 is mixed with consultants and hiring partners split on whether the beginning-of-the-year flurry of movement is just that, or if it is a sign of life in a market that was DOA last year," Passarella reported.
New York recruiter and consultant Jerome Kowalski told Passarella to expect movement as the year kicks off, but that firms should proceed cautiously. Kowalski likened law firms to "the cobbler whose children go barefoot," because though they conduct due diligence for clients they do not always do it for themselves when adding laterals. "My expectation is that after this initial spurt of lateral activity, these law firms are all going to be terribly disappointed because the business flow just isn't there," Kowalski said.
Frank D'Amore of Attorney Career Catalysts told The Intelligencer he thinks the lateral market could pick up this year if partners who were reluctant to make a move in tough times feel the worst is over--and if 2009 revenue numbers reveal two troubled years in a row.
That, at least, would be good news for recruiters--if not for law firms.