When Laterals Compete for the Same Clients
- Apr 9
- 1 min read
When firms hire a lateral group from competing firms, they often inherit a coordination problem they didn't anticipate: everyone is calling the same clients.
This isn’t a hypothetical. It’s one of the most common (and most avoidable) integration failures in lateral hiring today.
A firm builds out a new practice by bringing in partners from three different firms — all in the same area of law, all with relationships at the same financial institutions. Each has a different pricing arrangement, a different working relationship, and a different history.
But now, they’re colleagues. And the client is about to get three phone calls from the same firm.
Telling people to coordinate better isn’t the solution. It requires organizing the group around clients, not around the practice.
That means:
☑️Mapping shared client relationships before anyone picks up the phone.
☑️Having a direct conversation about pricing including who offered what, and what the firm's position will be going forward.
☑️Designating a point person for each key client relationship to ensure that the client experiences a unified, coordinated team, not a competition.
Clients who have worked with two or three of these lawyers separately are watching, and they’ll notice if the firm has done this work.
The ones who have will earn the relationship. The ones who haven't will lose it — often quietly, and often permanently.
Have you seen this dynamic play out at your firm? Let's compare notes.
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