Sidley Poaches 11-Lawyer Funds Team From Hogan Lovells/Cadwalader Merger Immediately After It Closes

Sidley Austin moved within weeks of the Hogan Lovells/Cadwalader combination to recruit an 11-lawyer New York funds team from the newly merged firm (Above the Law, August 4). The speed of the move — "barely a month" after the official merger — is the economically significant element: merger disruption periods have historically been the highest-yield targeting windows for lateral recruitment, and the Sidley move is a case study in the operational argument Reuters described this week (30–40% of laterals leave within five years; teams that feel institutionally unsettled post-merger are highest-risk departures). Separately, an unnamed BigLaw firm announced the largest group hire in its history — a 34-lawyer intellectual property litigation team from HSF Kramer, simultaneously opening a new Silicon Valley office (Above the Law, August 5). For CFOs and strategy teams: these two moves reflect the same market dynamic from different directions — merger-driven churn creating acquisition opportunities for third parties, and IP litigation capacity in Silicon Valley commanding premium group-hire investment. The 34-lawyer group hire at a new office represents a material capital commitment, with the Reuters data suggesting that around 40% of laterals at that scale succeed at the projected revenue level.