Behind the Numbers: A 60% Failure Rate for Lateral Partner Hires is Unacceptable
- doller8
- Feb 11
- 2 min read
Surveys consistently show that fewer than 40% of lateral partners succeed, and more than 40% leave within five years. While definitions of success vary—whether meeting revenue targets, cultural fit, or retention—one fact remains: a 60% failure rate is unacceptable, especially given the significant investments firms make in lateral hiring.
As 2025 kicks off with a wave of lateral movement across firms of all sizes, Erika Steinberg, President of CMO2Go, and I joined forces to identify some concrete strategies that law firms can implement to improve lateral integration and retention.
With 60+ years of Big Law experience between us, we’ve seen our share of both lateral success stories and costly missteps. In our experience, law firms are more successful at integrating laterals when they define success and set goals and KPIs in conjunction with laterals before the laterals’ start date. We have observed that firms do a good job of onboarding and making a lot of introductions, but activity and integration support often drops off after 2 months, as if the integration is done. If goals are in place and KPIs are being monitored, the stakeholders—laterals, BD professionals, management and other lawyers—know that the integration is not done until goals are met.
We took a look at some of the more detailed surveys on lateral success including Leopard Solution’s and Wisnik Career Enterprise’s 2024 Unlocking Success in
Lateral Partner Hiring. Here are a few takeaways:
Effective integration is the #1 predictor of lateral satisfaction.
Assigning a sponsor (a partner or BD professional) to take ownership of making key introductions to colleagues and clients and to facilitate strategic collaborations is a best practice.
Top factors attracting laterals: firm support for their practice, culture and reputation, firm leadership and direction, and financial health—compensation ranks only 6th.
Not all laterals are hired to be rainmakers—success should be defined based on the role the lateral was brought in to play.
Erika and I are now speaking with partners who recently made a lateral move to gain additional firsthand insights:
What attracted you to your new firm?
What expectations were set—and were they met?
What worked (or didn’t) in your integration?
Let’s challenge firms to make lateral success the norm, not the exception. What has your experience been? Drop a comment or DM me—we want to hear from you.
We will share what we learn. In the meantime, if your firm is investing in laterals, make sure you have an integration process in place that includes:
A structured pre-arrival conversation between the lateral and key stakeholders to define success, set measurable KPIs, and establish clear thresholds for success—or course correction.
The assignment of a sponsor responsible for making strategic introductions and facilitating collaborations to advance the lateral’s and the firm’s goals.
The firms that get this right will gain a real competitive edge in 2025 and beyond.
