Lateral Hiring May Fall 75% Amid Outbreak, Recruiters Say

Lateral hiring in the legal industry could fall by up to 75% in the short term due to the economic complications caused by the coronavirus, recruiters predict.

With the U.K. and many parts of Europe in lockdown, many businesses across the country have moved to remote working where possible, and some even shut down for the duration of the outbreak.

Subsequent market volatility has put many law firm lateral partner hires on standby, according to several legal recruiters.

Vassos Georgiadis, managing director at Melton Legal Search, told Law.com International: “I think lateral hiring may be down by up to 75% in the very short term.”

Two other recruiters agreed with that statement. One of them said the figure was accurate because “everything will be deferred until later in the year as corporate billings are falling off a cliff.”

The recruiter also said that he expects associate hiring to slow down as well.

Georgiadis added: “Mid-market firms and transactional practices will be the most hit by this situation. And like during the financial crisis in 2008, some partners will also be let go.”

Two corporate partners at different firms said that it would currently be “a bad time” for transactional lawyers to move firms.

One of them explained that, in the current situation, any transactional lawyer would find difficulty in showcasing their track record to a firm they’d like to move to as deal activity is on hold.

Another recruiter branded the virus as “terrible news” for the legal recruitment market. He said he fears legal recruitment companies might have to make redundancies in a “uniquely challenging time” for their market.

He and another recruiter added that the biggest challenge they are facing while working from home is being unable to meet lawyers face to face and set up meetings between lawyers and firms.

Another recruiter also said that some firms have decided against hiring laterals through video-conferencing while working from home, making it difficult for recruiters living on a month-to-month income to get by.

However, two recruiters told Law.com International that employment and restructuring lawyers are currently in demand given the impacts of the outbreak on businesses.

Another recruiter said that hires that had considerably advanced pre-COVID-19 would move along as planned.

In addition, Georgiadis said he thinks that in the mid-term, there will be opportunities for people in weaker firms who might want to make a move to better managed or more profitable firms, especially to U.S. firms.

A finance partner at a U.S. firm also sees a silver lining in this current, unprecedented, situation. He said that while some corporate partners might not be as busy as usual under the current circumstances, other practices will be. “It’s counter-cyclical”, he said.

He added: “But when things go back to normal, firms will have to face issues they didn’t want to face before.

“While working from home, many lawyers will have time to think about whether things are working out at their current firm, their career prospects, that kind of thing. I think a lot of lawyers will be looking to move firms once all of this is over.”

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