Employers

The largest law firms in New York elevated a large number of new partners over the last year, after promotions slowed down in the previous 12-month period that intersected  with the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In order to understand how law firm leaders from the largest firms in the U.S. are currently navigating the competitive market for legal talent, a tech company called Thine, that develops and deploys pre-hiring and integration assessments, engaged Ari Kaplan Advisors to interviews wide variety of professionals making decisions about hiring, development, and promotion in AmLaw 100 law firms. For this research, Ari Kaplan had the chance to interview 30 chief talent officers along with directors and managers of recruiting between Sept. 3 and Nov. 24 last year. 

The global pandemic helped to guide a new wave of remote working—and given the rise of the Omicron variant, that trend seems unlikely to change any time soon. 

Since there have been shifting workplace preferences and a reemergence of trial work in a pandemic-era stupor, litigation practices of all sizes are facing high rates of churn among legal support professionals, giving an often undervalued sector of the legal industry’s workforce an advantage in recruitment. 

In the midst of pandemic-era legal qualms and a backlog of court cases rolling in, there is no shortage of demand for legal services for midsize firms in 2021’s fourth quarter.

The pandemic brought extensive and sudden changes to the legal field. Some change, which included the improved use of technology and increased efficiencies for many lawyers, was long needed. 

While the landscape of work is changing in the legal world and other fields, in a lot of cases for good, the separating line between working in-house and joining private practice is wearing thin. In the past few weeks, many lawyers have moved out of in-house roles to become partners, counsel or associates at law firms.

As law firms head back to the office this fall, they should brace for a wave of associate departures, especially at firms that have taken a more hardline approach on office attendance, several legal industry observers said.

Law firms should be keeping a close eye on their associates in general, as firms compete to do everything they can to convince talent to join them this year. However, they should be more diligent about young lawyers in data privacy, corporate and insurance practices. 

Corporate law firms and legal departments are waging a fight for legal talent that may shape the future of the in-house world. To date, the in-house side of things is losing the recruitment tug-of-war as large law firms leverage large bonuses and the ability to work remotely to lure and retain top-grade lawyers.