Lateral hiring remains hit or miss due to the coronavirus pandemic, but a slew of government hires points to an increased appetite at big firms for lawyers in the white-collar crime and investigations space, brought on in part by federal stimulus packages.

“It’s not just supply and demand. Even if it’s a slow hiring market, there is always a market for a really high-quality white-collar partner, because there are so few of them,” said Melinda Wallman, a London-based partner at legal recruiting boutique Macrae who helped author a July report on increasing demand in the practice space.