Law firm growth and lateral strategy
Law firm growth strategy: where to grow, who to hire, and what it will take
A clear read on where your firm is strong, where it is exposed, and which practices and markets it can realistically grow into. Every recommendation ends in a hiring plan that can be executed.
The problem
Most growth plans assume lawyers who are not available
A new office or practice group usually rests on two assumptions: that the market holds the lawyers the plan needs, and that the firm's current people stay. Both are rarely checked before the plan is approved.
We check them. How many qualified attorneys exist in the target market, how many competing firms are already recruiting them, which of your own offices and practices carry the most attrition risk, and what the hiring in the plan will realistically cost and take.
What we do
How we work on it
Competitor and position map
Who you actually compete with, practice by practice and market by market, and how your footprint and practice mix compare.
Attrition risk review
Which offices, practices and seniority levels are most exposed to being recruited away, and where the market is pulling hardest.
Expansion options
New practices and new markets sorted by fit: what builds on your core, what opens new clients, and what the talent supply supports.
Lateral hiring plan
The hires the strategy needs, by practice, seniority and city, with the size of each candidate pool and a realistic timeline. Our sister firm can run the searches.
Deliverable
What a growth review covers
Footprint and positioning
Offices, practices and headcount trends against the firms competing in the same markets.
Practice-mix overlap
Which competitors look most like you, and where the differences are an advantage or a gap.
Strengths and risks
Where you are deep, where you are thin, and where a few departures would hurt.
Attrition exposure
Risk by office, practice and seniority, read against what the market is offering.
Expansion map
Growth options sorted by strategic fit and by how much talent the market holds.
Hiring plan
Seats, pools and timelines, ready to hand to a search team.
Who we work with
Managing partners and executive committees
Setting a multi-year growth plan and want an outside, evidence-based view.
Practice group leaders
Building the case to add a practice, a team or an office.
Chief operating and marketing officers
Need market context for strategy, business development and recruiting budgets.
Firms preparing for a merger or investor
Want to understand their market position and talent risk before someone else assesses it.
Why us
Market evidence from people who hire lawyers for a living
We track where attorneys practice, move and get hired across U.S. law firms every week, because that is how we recruit. A growth review from us is grounded in the same live market a search would run in.
Our sister firm, Voll Recruiting, places attorneys at law firms across the country, so we see what lawyers are offered, why they move and how long seats take to fill, every week. See how we work and where our data comes from.
FAQ
Questions
What does a growth review include?
A competitor and position map, an attrition risk review, an expansion map of practices and markets, and a lateral hiring plan, delivered as a written report with a leadership working session.
Do you only recommend lateral hiring?
No. Some findings point to retention, pricing or business development rather than hiring. Where hiring is the answer, the plan says how many seats, where, and what the candidate pools look like.
Is there a conflict with your recruiting firm?
The review is a fixed fee and stands on its own. You are free to run the hiring with anyone, or not at all. If you want Voll Recruiting to run it, that is a separate engagement on its own terms.
How long does it take?
Most reviews take two to four weeks from kickoff, depending on the number of offices and practices in scope.
Planning where to grow next?
Tell us the offices and practices in play. We will tell you on the call what evidence exists and what the review would cover.