New York lateral partner hires in Am Law 50 and Magic Circle firms have grown substantially in 2024, with an uptick in moves in investment funds, private equity and other corporate practices, according to a new study.
Lateral partner hires in New York City increased by 35% year-over-year in the first three quarters of this year, totaling 222 compared with 165 in the same period in 2023, according to the report by recruiting firm Maccrae this week.
The current hiring trajectory in the Big Apple is just below 2022, when there were 243 total lateral hires in the first three quarters of the year.
“There has been a massive uptick in hiring in New York this year from last year when hiring was down,” said Tad Gruman, a New York-based managing director at Maccrae. “Prudent firms are strategically hiring to set themselves up for the future, while not over-hiring like they did a few years ago.”
The greatest change in New York moves this year was in investment management/funds, where lateral hires increased by 164% to 29, from 11 in the first three quarters of last year, according to the report.
That coincides with a national trend of hiring in the investment funds space. As more and newer investment funds and alternative vehicles make their way to market, demand for legal work in asset management has shot up. In recent months, firms such as Simpson Thacher & Bartlett; Davis Polk & Wardwell; Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld; Weil, Gotshal & Manges; and others have landed lateral partners in the investment funds space.
Coinciding with the growth in deal activity in 2024, New York private equity lateral moves also increased, rising 100% from seven to 14 in the same period. Gruman added that the moves in this space are fueling moves in other groups.
“This practice area really is the motor by which firms are able to hire other practice group leaders and then become leaders themselves. Because of PE, firms are able to attract similar sophisticated and successful partners to join their teams,” he said.
The real estate practice group saw an increase of 40%, up from 10 to 14, per the report. Lastly, corporate and finance groups both saw increases of 28%, from 32 to 41.
The overall report showed that lateral partner hiring at elite firms hit its highest level in three years in London, New York, the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington, D.C. That number totaled 557 lateral partner moves in Am Law 50 firms and the Magic Circle through September 2024.