Career Resources

Atlanta just gave the legal industry a blunt reminder that this is not a uniformly healthy hiring market. Taylor Duma collapsed, rival firms rushed in for the talent, and one city instantly shifted from competitive expansion to open redistribution. That is the kind of event that tells you more than a dozen cheerful press releases ever will: firms are still hiring, but they are hiring selectively, opportunistically, and with far less patience for weak platforms. Source

The Atlanta fallout moved quickly. Offit Kurman added five attorneys from the shuttered firm. Smith Gambrell picked up 14 intellectual property lawyers. Ardis Law expanded with more former Taylor Duma attorneys. For lawyers on the market, that means instability can create opportunity overnight. For firms, it means contested growth markets are getting harsher, and regional platforms are more vulnerable when departures begin to stack. Source Source Source

That same unevenness is showing up in Washington, where government departures are still feeding private-sector demand. Bloomberg Law reported that the 200 largest law firms hired more than 1,100 lawyers from federal agencies and the White House last year, more than doubling the prior year’s total. Counsel hiring showed the biggest jump, which is telling: firms want regulatory and enforcement credibility, but many are adding it in ways that protect partner economics. Source

Government hiring into Big Law rose sharply, especially at the counsel level. Source

Not every former government lawyer is heading to BigLaw, though. Reuters reported that former senior FTC lawyers Monica Vaca and Kati Daffan launched Vaca Daffan, a new Washington, D.C.-based plaintiff-side consumer protection firm. That move matters because it shows some of the strongest government résumés are bypassing large-firm platforms entirely when they see a better commercial fit in a boutique model. Source

Meanwhile, the strongest lateral action is still clustering around specialist practices and premium markets. In New York, Clifford Chance hired a former White & Case attorney as a partner in its tax, pensions and employment group. McGuireWoods added two New York partners from Loeb & Loeb to strengthen SPAC and capital markets capability. In San Francisco, Goodwin brought back a former Wilson Sonsini M&A co-head. These are not volume plays. They are targeted bets on practices clients will pay for immediately. Source 

That is the clearest message in the market right now: firms are still willing to spend, but only when the lawyer brings a clean practice story. Tax, M&A, private equity-adjacent work, capital markets, antitrust, regulatory, and investigations remain easier sells than generalized lateral profiles. For lawyers considering a move, marketability is narrowing around precision. Source 

The city map is changing too. Law.com reported that partner movement ran faster in San Francisco, Seattle, and Boston in 2025, with firms hiring more aggressively in markets benefiting from generative AI and GLP-1-related industry growth. Corporate and litigation moved faster than specialty practices overall, and some Eastern cities slowed sharply by comparison. That means the biggest opportunities are not simply in the largest legal markets, but in the markets tied to the strongest industry tailwinds. Source

The early-career pipeline is sending a more mixed signal. Bloomberg Law reported that Susman Godfrey is stepping back from the accelerated recruiting race and wants to see full first-year transcripts before hiring summer associates. That is notable because the broader recruiting cycle is still moving earlier, not later. Source

NALP’s latest data helps explain the tension. The average number of 2L summer associates per office dropped to eight in 2025, down from nine in 2024 and ten in 2022 and 2023. Eighty percent of offers for 2026 2L summer programs came through employer-sponsored recruiting, and 85% of offers were made before July. So the pace is still accelerating, but the hiring classes themselves are not expanding the same way. The pipeline is faster and more compressed, not necessarily broader. Source

There is also a quieter factor shaping the market: retention risk. Reuters reported that DLA Piper is facing a Manhattan jury trial over claims that it fired a senior associate after she requested maternity leave. The case touches both New York and San Francisco and puts firm policies around leave, evaluation, and performance under a public microscope. Even when cases like this do not immediately change hiring totals, they can influence how associates think about staying or leaving. Source

Washington-facing firms remain among the most aggressive buyers of government talent. Source

The takeaway is simple, and it is sharper than the usual “the legal market remains strong” line. BigLaw is still hiring. But it is hiring in the right cities, for the right specialties, and often only when the business case is immediate. Atlanta is showing what platform failure looks like. Washington is still monetizing government exits. New York and San Francisco are rewarding specialists. Boston and Seattle are gaining from industry momentum. Everyone else is not necessarily out of the game — but they are no longer setting the pace.