BigLaw’s lateral partner market is moving quickly.
High-profile partners and, increasingly, groups of partners are moving between firms as competition for talent intensifies. Recent weeks have provided some particularly visible examples, with major firms recruiting senior lawyers and established teams across New York and London. The numbers reflect that wider momentum: through the end of August, the top 50 U.S. firms had hired 1,086 partners, compared with 901 over the same period in 2025.
Much of the attention naturally falls on the partners making those moves. Which clients will follow? How much business will transfer? What does the hire mean for the destination firm?
There is another group affected by these departures that receives considerably less attention: the associates who stay behing.
When one partner leaves, the impact on a junior lawyer may be relatively limited. When several partners leave the same practice, however, the dynamics can change quickly. Work can move, client relationships can shift, teams can be restructured and progression opportunities can look very different from how they did six months earlier.
For associates caught in the middle, the immediate instinct may be to ask whether they should follow. The better first question is often much broader: what does this departure actually change for my career?
A partner departure can change more than your workflow
Associates build their careers within firms, but much of their day-to-day development happens within smaller ecosystems.
The partners they work for determine the matters they see, the clients they are exposed to, the responsibility they receive and, often, who advocates for them internally. Over several years, those relationships can become an important part of an associate’s professional development.
A significant partner departure can therefore disrupt far more than a matter list.
An associate may suddenly find that the person who had been giving them increasing responsibility is no longer there. A senior lawyer who had been advocating for their progression may leave. A major client relationship could move with the departing partner, taking a particular stream of work with it.
The effect becomes more significant when several partners leave a practice within a relatively short period. At that point, associates should be paying attention not only to individual departures but to how the firm responds.
The first question: what happens to the work?
Partner departures do not automatically mean the work disappears.
Some clients may follow the departing lawyers, particularly where relationships are closely tied to individual partners. Others may remain with the firm. Existing matters might be redistributed internally, while the firm could respond by promoting lawyers, recruiting laterally or investing more heavily in the practice.
For associates, those different outcomes can produce very different career scenarios.
A depleted team can sometimes create more opportunity, not less. Associates who previously sat several layers below the client relationship may find themselves taking on greater responsibility. Senior associates could become more important to the continuity of a practice. New partners brought in to rebuild may introduce different clients, work and career opportunities.
The period following a departure can therefore be one of significant professional development for the lawyers who remain.
The opposite can also happen. If important work leaves and is not replaced, associates may find themselves with fewer high-quality matters, less exposure or uncertainty around how strategically important their practice remains to the firm.
The important thing is not to assume either outcome.
Watch what the firm does next
One of the clearest indicators for associates is the firm’s response.
Does leadership quickly appoint new practice heads? Are existing partners stepping into larger roles? Is the firm recruiting replacements? Are associates being reassured about the direction of the group? Are clients and matters staying with the team?
Recent lateral activity illustrates how quickly firms can respond when senior lawyers leave. Following a major corporate leadership departure this month, one U.S. firm appointed two established partners to jointly lead its approximately 600-lawyer corporate practice, signalling its intention to continue investing across both public-company M&A and private equity.
That response matters.
A firm that immediately starts rebuilding may present a very different proposition from one where departures continue without obvious investment in the team. Associates should look beyond internal messaging and pay attention to what actually happens over the following weeks and months.
Recruitment can be particularly revealing. A major lateral partner hire can bring new clients and work into the practice. Internal promotions can create opportunities for existing lawyers. A sustained absence of either may warrant closer attention.
Should you follow the partner?
For some associates, this will be the most immediate question.
A partner moving to another firm may ask trusted associates to join them, particularly where they have worked closely together for several years. The familiarity can make following feel like the obvious option.
It should still be treated as a completely separate career decision.
The new firm may have a different culture, compensation structure, billable expectation, partnership model or approach to staffing. Your relationship with the partner may be excellent, but that does not automatically mean the new platform is right for you.
A useful question to ask yourself is:
Would I want to join this firm if the partner weren't moving there?
If the answer is yes, following may make considerable sense. If the primary attraction is simply familiarity with the partner, it is worth examining the opportunity more carefully.
Associates should also understand exactly what the move would mean for them. Will your seniority be recognised? Will your work remain the same? What does progression look like? Who else is moving? What happens if the partner's practice develops differently at the new firm?
Loyalty to a mentor can be valuable, but your career needs to work independently of theirs.
Staying can be a career move too
The excitement surrounding lateral moves can make remaining at a firm feel like the passive option.
It isn't necessarily.
If several senior lawyers depart, associates who stay may suddenly become much more important to the practice. Institutional knowledge becomes valuable. Existing client relationships matter. There may be fewer people competing for responsibility, internal promotion or access to the remaining partners.
A senior associate who was previously one of several lawyers at the same level could find themselves with a clearer route towards Counsel or Partnership. A mid-level might start leading work they previously supported. Junior associates could gain client exposure earlier than expected.
Those possibilities need to be weighed against the risks of a weakened practice.
The right decision depends on what remains, not simply on who has left.
Pay attention to your internal sponsors
Work is only one part of the equation.
Associates should also consider whether a departure changes their internal support network.
Progression within a law firm is rarely determined by technical ability alone. Senior lawyers advocate for associates during reviews, recommend them for opportunities, introduce them to clients and help build their profile within the partnership.
If one of your strongest internal sponsors leaves, it is worth thinking deliberately about who else knows your work.
That does not mean immediately looking elsewhere. It may mean investing more time in relationships with other partners, working across a broader range of matters or ensuring that your contribution is visible beyond one individual.
An associate whose entire internal network sits beneath one partner is naturally more exposed when that partner moves.
Don't make a decision in the first week
A major departure can generate uncertainty, particularly when rumours begin circulating about who might leave next.
That is rarely the best environment in which to make a rushed career decision.
Associates should gather information first. Speak to partners they trust. Understand what is happening to existing matters. Find out how the firm plans to structure the team and whether replacement hiring is expected. Pay attention to whether clients are staying and whether the practice remains an area of strategic investment.
It can also be useful to understand the external market at the same time.
Knowing which firms are hiring, how your experience is valued and what alternatives exist gives you context. That does not mean committing to a search. It simply means ensuring that a decision to stay is as informed as a decision to leave.
A departure is a reason to reassess, not necessarily a reason to leave
The current lateral market means more associates are likely to experience significant partner movement around them.
Some will follow. Others will stay and benefit from the opportunities created by a changing team. Some will decide that neither option is right and use the moment to explore the wider market.
There is no universal response.
What matters is recognising that when a significant partner or group of partners leaves, the career proposition you originally joined may have changed. The work, leadership, client exposure, progression opportunities and strategic direction of the practice all deserve another look.
The most useful question is not simply “Should I follow?”
It is: “If I were choosing between these opportunities today, knowing what I know now, which environment would give me the career I want to build?”
Partner departures can be disruptive. They can also create responsibility, visibility and opportunities that would otherwise have taken years to emerge.
A partner departure isn't automatically a reason to leave. But it is a reason to reassess.
