Leopard Solutions and Commentary from Laura Leopard Featured in Law360 Article on Lateral Hiring During Pandemic
June 16, 2020
Law360 featured data in an article on “Hiring From the Top: Firms Target Rainmakers Amid Virus” as well as commentary from Laura Leopard, CEO and founder of Leopard Solutions.
The article noted that lateral partner activity across the industry has slowed down during the pandemic:
According to data from Leopard Solutions, a database tool used by recruiters and law firms, the number of partner lateral moves tracked in May at the top 200 firms in the U.S. fell nearly 58% from 224 partners in 2019 to 95 in 2020, and the April numbers were down 52% year-over-year, from 282 to 136.
Similarly, associate attorney moves were down 59% compared to May 2019, the data show, falling from 658 moves to 267. In April, associate moves were down 25%, but in March, around the time when lockdowns began around the country, 692 moves were reported, almost double the total from March 2019.
“Right now, what they’re doing is they’re trying to do lateral recruitment for business development because everybody needs business development right now,” said Laura Leopard, CEO of Leopard Solutions. “Even if they have to elbow people around to fit them into their firm, they’re going to want those people.”
“So right now, all of the big people in their fields, I mean, this is where they get to write their own ticket,” Leopard added.
