Big Law Firms Keep Spending Money to Make Money in Talent Market

The going price for Big Law rainmakers is reaching new heights as firms chase scale and growth.

Elite law firms are spending upwards of $30 million in pay and bonuses to land top individual partners, according to recruiters. The deals increasingly are structured with “guaranteed” pay tallies for up to three years, even as partner compensation is tied to firms’ overall financial performance.

The battle for top-end partner talent comes as firms look to land more work and justify growing billing rates. It’s a high-stakes game in a rapidly changing industry with lawyers more willing than ever before to change firms.

“The firms at the very top of the echelon have separated themselves from the rest and they’re competing for the same talent,” said Tad Gruman, a legal recruiter for Macrae. “Firms are now sometimes even going down market to pull someone up who has clients who can stomach a rate increase.”

A rainmaker’s book of business, on the low end, is at least $15 million, and firms expect that total to multiply after a strategic lateral hire, Gruman said. But they do not know for sure how much client work new hires are actually bringing with them until lateral partners are in the door.

“None of this is new, it’s just happening much more frequently and with a lot more zeroes behind it,” Gruman said.

Although firms are shelling out more money for partners, the bulk of their recruiting is for associates and other positions, Bloomberg Law’s Leading Law Firms survey data show. They’re also expanding non-equity partner tiers to accommodate more attorneys with “partner” titles—and billing rates to match.

Transatlantic firm Eversheds Sutherland reported 16% of its partnership was made up of lateral hires in 2025, as it turned its attention to boosting US revenue. Paul Hastings (15%) and Paul Weiss (14%), among the most active in the high-end lateral partner market, also had larger shares of lateral partner hires compared to other survey participants.

Read more: See which firms came out on top overall in Bloomberg Law’s Leading Law Firms.

Firms are now more particular about the talent they chase as the price tags rise. The shift to high-end partner recruits followed a junior lawyer hiring war and the subsequent shedding of associates as firms course-corrected in the aftermath of the pandemic.

“There’s never been a recruiting landscape like there is now,” Gruman said.

The market shifts have forced Big Law firms to make deeper investments into prime US markets including New York, Chicago, Boston, California, Washington, as well as in London. Recruitment has been busy for particular practice groups including commercial litigation, private credit, shareholder activism and bankruptcy groups, said Janet Markoff, a recruiter with Major Lindsey & Africa. Firms have also been looking to add attorneys to boost IP, data centers, and AI-related work.

Partner recruitment is continuing at an “incredibly busy” clip this year, according to Markoff. “It’s almost everything,” she said. “It’s how they build their revenue.”

The rise of non-equity partner tiers helps firms keep a close grip on who gets a share of their profits. Debevoise & Plimpton added a non-equity partnership class in June 2025, joining other Big Law firms including Paul Weiss, Cravath Swaine & Moore, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, and WilmerHale. The arrangement allows firms to charge clients the higher rates that a partner garners while also having attorneys work on institutional clients without the pressure of building business.

A steady stream of major law firm tie-ups has contributed to the recruitment frenzy of the last few years. McDermott Will & Schulte, which combined August 2025, has more than 1,600 attorneys, and generated $2.9 billion in revenue last year. Transatlantic firm Hogan Lovells is combining with New York-founded Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, while Chicago-founded Winston & Strawn is completing a merger with UK’s Taylor Wessing.

The mergers have encouraged lawyers more lawyers to consider lateral moves, according to Markoff.

“There are just a lot more candidates are willing to go on the market,” she said.

The Leading Law Firms score is a weighted combination of four pillar segments, with the Talent pillar accounting for 35% of the overall score.

The data came from a short, yet comprehensive questionnaire by Bloomberg Law allowing law firms to self-report data. Bloomberg Law only accepted data provided by the law firm, and did not source publicly available data to supplement any firm’s submission.

See the main story for more information and full program methodology.