What Elite Partners Should Look at Before Considering a New Firm

Key Takeaways

Lateral partner movement remains a key growth strategy for law firms, but many partner moves fail because candidates focus too heavily on compensation and prestige rather than long-term fit. In their op-ed for The American Lawyer, Craig Donaldson and Cheryl Donaldson explore the commercial and psychological factors behind lateral moves and outline the characteristics of firms where elite partners are most likely to thrive.

• Partners typically leave firms due to misalignment around rates, a lack of respect or investment in their growth, or feelings of stagnation and complacency.
• Many lateral moves fail because partners do not fully evaluate a firm's culture, business ecosystem, and long-term fit before making a transition.
• Strong interpersonal connections, collaboration, trust, and cross-selling opportunities are critical indicators of a healthy firm environment.
• A firm's structure, including decision-making processes, staffing support, onboarding, talent retention, and operational flexibility, can be as important as compensation.
• The most successful lateral moves occur when a firm's platform supports a partner's future growth ambitions and aligns with their long-term professional goals.

This is great news for elite partners.

For firms looking to scale quickly, hiring an established partner is often far more efficient than building business organically. A partner with a $5 million or $10 million book of business isn't a hire; it's a micro-acquisition. They bring industry expertise, institutional relationships, and immediate opportunities for revenue growth and increased firm profitability. They also create greater cross-selling potential throughout the firm.

But beneath the industry’s extraordinary growth sits a more complicated reality. Namely, lateral partners often inadvertently move to a firm that is not a good fit.

According to 2025 data from SurePoint Legal Insights, nearly 25% of lateral partners leave within three years of joining a new firm. More than 50% of lateral associates and roughly 40% of counsel leave within the same period. Lateral partner and counsel hiring may be up nearly 15% year-over-year, but a significant portion of that key talent is not staying.For partners considering a move, this raises a critical question. With so many firms competing for top talent, how can you be sure a new platform will actually be the right fit?

One important consideration is seeking the advice of trusted mentors and others who are close to the legal industry and know the market. Also, be sure to consider numerous firms. Don’t be short-sighted by the one firm that has reached out to you. There will certainly be other great opportunities to be had. If you are going to make a move, do it right and explore the market.

In our experience working closely with law firm partners, partner movement is typically driven by a handful of recurring factors, each rooted in both the commercial realities of their practice and the psychology of being a high performer.

Why Partners Leave

Rates: A partner may have a strong book of business, but if a firm’s rate structure does not fit the economics of that client base, tension can build. A client may be willing to pay $1,200 per hour for a particular type of work, while the firm expects that partner to bill at $2,000 per hour.

Respect: A partner may be bringing in millions of dollars in business while simultaneously feeling blocked from growth, disconnected from the firm, and undervalued, under appreciated, and underpaid. Partners are not employees in the traditional sense. They are effectively operating businesses within a larger platform. If that platform extracts value from them without reinvesting in their growth and well-being, loyalty becomes fragile.

Complacency: After spending their lives competing and being measured against elite standards, partners at this level are extremely high performers. That drive is often what makes them successful. But when a partner feels plateaued, complacent, or has been in one place for a long period of time, restlessness becomes a risk to retention. If another firm appears to offer a stronger platform or a fresh opportunity, movement becomes increasingly likely.

The challenge for partners who have lateralled is that these dynamics often become fully visible only after they’ve already moved. The better approach is to evaluate them beforehand, and the partners who leave within those first three years are usually the ones who didn’t get a clear read on the firm’s ecosystem before they signed.

Before making a lateral move, there are three other factors worth examining more closely in prospective firms.

Assess the Quality of Connection

As a high performer, external factors like prestige and compensation may keep you at a firm for a period of time. But every major law firm can offer those things. They are rarely what determines whether you stay. What matters more is whether you can see yourself becoming part of the firm’s ecosystem and fabric. Pay attention to how connected people are across the culture.

You need to be supported and invested in to continue growing your book of business. Look for managing partners and practice leads who genuinely listen to what you have to say and understand the commercial realities of your practice. How are partners working together across the firm? Are they aware of each other's unique niches and creating opportunities for cross-selling? Is younger talent being mentored and developed?

This is the foundation of good business. It's the same reason why your clients follow you wherever you go. Trust, connection, and loyalty are just as much a part of business strategy as compensation and prestige. Look for the firm where connections, friendship, and respect are strong throughout the ecosystem.

Find a Strong Foundation

Structure is the framework that will allow you to successfully build and grow your practice. Before making a move, look closely at the firm’s system. This includes everything from staffing and associate support to rate flexibility, transparency, decision-making, onboarding, and the firm’s ability to adapt to the commercial realities of your practice.

A strong structure allows you to focus on serving clients and expanding your practice rather than constantly navigating internal friction and politics. The most successful firms create structures that provide both support and flexibility. You want to know that the system around you is stable, but you also need the autonomy and trust to grow your practice in ways that make sense for your clients and working style.

How quickly are decisions made? Is there adequate support around you? Is talent being retained, or is there a pattern of turnover and exhaustion? Does the firm’s rate structure align with the realities of your client base? Will the platform help you build more effectively than the one you are leaving? Look for the firm that gives you both the support and freedom to build.

Expect Growth

Expectations are not just what a firm expects of you, but also what you expect of the firm. Lateral partners should expect growth within their new firm. You did not build a book of business by standing still. You need a firm that you can imagine growing within and one that will embrace your growth, goals, and aspirations.

Look for the firm whose leadership takes an active interest in the growth of your business and team. Do they understand your ambitions? Are they invested in helping you build the practice you want? Ultimately, ask yourself a simple question: Is the new firm a place you, your team, and practice can thrive? Does the firm fully buy into to your goals and aspirations?

In Conclusion

The data tells part of the story, but it is the psychology behind these decisions—the human behavior driving them—that often goes ignored.

When evaluating a lateral move, compensation and prestige only tell part of the story. The factors that ultimately determine whether you stay and thrive are often revealed in how a firm’s system operates. Pay attention to the quality of the connections, the strength of the structure, and the opportunities for future growth.

The best lateral move is not necessarily the one that looks best on paper. It’s the one whose platform allows you to grow your practice without losing yourself in the process.