Lateral Market at Record Pace
NALP data shows overall lateral hiring up 16.4% in 2025, with partner laterals up 17.8% and associate laterals up 17.1%. Am Law 200 firms hired 4,152 lateral partners in the 12 months ending September 2025. Linklaters poached a pair from Paul Weiss (July 22), while Clifford Chance lost its two US Insurance co-heads — Dennis Manfredi and Joseph Cosentino — to Simpson Thacher. A&O Shearman reported
BY FRONTIER DESK · JULY 23, 2026 · 1 MIN READ
NALP data shows overall lateral hiring up 16.4% in 2025, with partner laterals up 17.8% and associate laterals up 17.1%. Am Law 200 firms hired 4,152 lateral partners in the 12 months ending September 2025. Linklaters poached a pair from Paul Weiss (July 22), while Clifford Chance lost its two US Insurance co-heads — Dennis Manfredi and Joseph Cosentino — to Simpson Thacher. A&O Shearman reported revenue flat at $3.7bn with pre-tax profits up 14% to $1.6bn and PEP up 12% to $2.9M; Eversheds Sutherland posted revenue +8% to £827M and PEP +14%. The lateral market functions as the primary mechanism for redistributing the AI productivity dividend across firms — partners move to where the economics work, creating a talent arms race that further compresses the margin benefit of AI investment.