A Lateral Partners Wish List: Insights From The Foster Group on What Partners Want When Making a Lateral Move
/A Lateral Partners Wish List: Insights From The Foster Group on What Partners Want When Making a Lateral Move
When law firm partners make a lateral move, it is often high stakes. The benefits they stand to gain are considerable, but so are the risks. Consequently, many contemplating the move turn to The Foster Group for expert advice.
“A partner’s move often carries implications far beyond their personal career trajectory,” explains Michelle Foster, Managing Partner at The Foster Group. “It can impact an entire book of business, the clients who rely on the partner, and the internal teams that support their practice. The financial and strategic considerations are also more complex, involving compensation structures, capital contributions, cross-selling synergies, and long-term platform alignment.”
The Foster Group is a full-service legal recruiting firm that assists partners, counsel, and associates in making strategic and impactful career moves. Top law firms and corporations also rely on The Foster Group’s decades of experience to help them find the talent they need to provide excellent service to clients and drive strategic growth.
Partner recruiting is a specialty of The Foster Group, whose team of experts has successfully navigated many complex searches and placements for partners across key practice areas.
The Foster Group: Guiding career decisions from a place of strategy, not stress
The wish list that partners have as they seek a lateral move often aims to address pain points. They may be dealing with limited resources to support client development, or they may feel their earnings are restricted by a compensation model that no longer fairly reflects their contributions or originations.
“Internal policies or leadership shifts at their firm can also be the source of pain points,” Michelle says. “It’s not unusual for internal conflicts to inhibit a partner’s business expansion.”
But pain points are not the only factor that can inspire a partner to start looking elsewhere. In some cases, they are seeking greater growth opportunities.
“Many partners aren’t unhappy, but simply ambitious,” says Drew Foster, Managing Director at The Foster Group. “Even satisfied partners may consider a move because they see a chance to leverage a brand that elevates their personal practice or to expand into new markets or industries. A move can connect them to a more collaborative culture that gives them access to stronger practice support or deeper bench strength. An opportunity to position themselves for long-term succession planning can also be motivating for an ambitious partner.”
The Foster Group has the expertise to evaluate all these drivers with precision. Partners who turn to the group find the guidance they need to make decisions from a place of strategy rather than stress.
The Foster Group: Guiding career decisions in a shifting legal landscape
As partners consider a lateral move, their goals and ambitions are only part of the equation. They also must carefully consider the legal landscape and its influence on opportunities. Failure to understand the dynamics - both in the general employment market and the specific firms they consider - can lead to faulty decision-making.
“The pace and nature of partner mobility have evolved significantly in recent years, impacting the landscape in unprecedented ways,” Michelle shares. “For example, remote and hybrid work were normalized by the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing partners to prioritize platform over geography.”
Increased client sophistication is another factor that marks the current landscape and is pushing some partners toward firms with deeper technical capabilities. Michelle and her team have seen the growing influence of AI and legal technology as a factor prompting partners to seek positions at firms with robust tech investments.
“Firm culture is an internal factor that is especially important to understand when making a move,” Drew says. “The laterals that we speak with often note feeling a sense of shifting culture at their firm and a desire to move to a firm that promotes a culture of collaboration where they can feel a part of the partnership.”
The current dynamics at play in the legal landscape create more opportunities than ever before, but also greater complexity. Partners increasingly turn to The Foster Group for help with interpreting the shifting landscape and with identifying the right long-term fit.
The Foster Group: Guiding career decisions with distinct and empowering advantages
On their own, partners seeking a lateral move will be very limited in both the opportunities they can access and the time they have to take advantage of those opportunities. Tapping into the resources The Foster Group provides opens new doors to opportunities while also making it easier to capitalize on them.
“We are constantly fostering relationships with the legal industry that give us access to inside-the-room intelligence we can then share with our clients,” Drew explains. “We know how firms are truly performing, what their real growth priorities are, how lateral integration actually works there, and what a partner's practice is worth within that specific platform. It’s the kind of information attorneys simply can’t gather through public rankings, websites, or firm-issued statements.”
The Foster Group does much more than help partners improve their resumes. In a rapidly changing legal market where knowledge is power, it facilitates the type of lateral moves that lead to a better life.
“Even highly successful partners are often surprised by how dramatically the right platform can reduce friction in their day-to-day practice, elevate their client service, and create more financial and personal freedom,” Michelle says. “Our role is to uncover those opportunities and help partners to see what their career could look like at its best.”