Lateraling in a Tight Market: Why Practice Area Fluency is the New Differentiator

The lateral hiring market has cooled slightly in early 2025, with firms becoming more selective even as demand remains strong for specialized skills. According to the National Association for Law Placement (NALP), lateral hiring dipped by 12% in Q1 2025 compared to the previous year, yet attorneys with deep expertise in high-need areas—such as AI governance, private credit, and energy transition—continued to receive multiple competitive offers. The key differentiator is no longer just years of experience or firm pedigree, but what we call practice area fluency: the ability to articulate not just what you’ve done, but how your skills solve the specific problems keeping partners and clients up at night. This article breaks down how to audit your practice area’s demand, craft a compelling narrative, and position yourself for success in a tighter market.

Identify Practice Areas That Are Still Hiring

The first step is understanding where firms are actually hiring. While headlines often focus on broad trends, the real opportunities lie in granular practice area shifts. For example, though corporate transactional work slowed in 2024, subgroups like private credit funds and secondaries saw a 23% increase in partner hires, according to a 2025 report by legal recruiting firm Major, Lindsey & Africa. Similarly, while general commercial litigation dipped, niche areas like trade secrets disputes and legal challenges related to AI training data saw a surge in activity. The takeaway is clear: laterals who can demonstrate fluency in a high-demand sub-specialty will stand out. One attorney who successfully pivoted from general M&A to private credit fund formation noted that her interviewers at Kirkland & Ellis cared less about her deal count and more about her ability to explain how recent SEC rule changes would impact fund structuring—a nuance she highlighted by referencing a recent client alert from the firm’s website.

Craft a Future-Oriented Narrative About Your Skills

Once you’ve identified a high-need practice area, the next challenge is crafting a narrative that goes beyond a resume recitation. Hiring partners increasingly complain that laterals focus too much on describing past tasks rather than framing their experience as solutions to current pain points. A Goodwin Procter hiring partner recently told Law360 that the most successful laterals “speak in terms of risk mitigation and efficiency gains,” such as explaining how they streamlined diligence in complex PE deals or navigated a novel regulatory hurdle. For example, a lateral moving from a mid-market firm to Latham & Watkins reframed her experience by saying, “I’ve handled over 50 diligence requests for lower-middle-market deals, which taught me how to identify the three most common red flags that delay closings—here’s how I’d apply that to your portfolio work.” This approach shifts the conversation from “what you’ve done” to “what you can do for us.”

Get Specific About Immediate Client Needs

Another critical but often overlooked step is aligning your narrative with the firm’s immediate client needs. Laterals frequently make the mistake of relying on generic talking points rather than tailoring their pitch to the firm’s recent matters. Before interviewing at Paul, Weiss, one lateral reviewed the firm’s recent cases in the Southern District of New York and noticed a pattern of high-stakes disputes involving AI copyright issues. During his callback, he referenced a specific case and said, “I noticed your team is litigating whether AI training data constitutes fair use—my work at [prior firm] involved similar questions around data scraping, and here’s how we navigated the statutory ambiguities.” This level of specificity demonstrated both his substantive knowledge and his ability to hit the ground running. Legal recruiter Lateral Link has noted that candidates who reference a firm’s recent matters in interviews have a 40% higher callback-to-offer conversion rate, according to their 2024 lateral hiring report.

Don't Be Deterred By Timing

Timing is also a crucial factor in today’s market. While lateral hiring traditionally peaks in Q4, firms are now making strategic hires year-round based on practice area needs. For example, Weil Gotshal brought on a team of restructuring attorneys in March 2025 ahead of an anticipated wave of retail bankruptcies, while Cooley aggressively hired life sciences associates in Q2 to capitalize on renewed biotech IPO activity. Laterals who monitor these trends—via firm press releases, court dockets, and industry reports—can time their moves to coincide with spikes in demand. One attorney who successfully lateraled to Simpson Thacher did so by tracking the firm’s recent PE fund formations on PitchBook and reaching out just as the group was staffing up for a major flagship fund.

Be Prepared to Show How You Can Integrate Immediately

Finally, laterals must be prepared to address the unspoken question behind every interview: “Can this person bill at our rates?” Firms increasingly evaluate laterals based on their ability to transition seamlessly into a higher-stakes environment without extensive training. A Ropes & Gray hiring committee member recently shared with The American Lawyer that they look for laterals who can “demonstrate sophistication in client interactions,” such as describing how they managed C-suite expectations in a high-pressure deal or negotiated directly with regulators. One candidate impressed the committee by walking through how she adapted her communication style when advising a first-time PE sponsor versus a seasoned fund—a nuance that signaled her readiness for the firm’s client base.

***

The lateral market is no longer about selling experience—it’s about selling solutions. By focusing on practice area fluency, tailoring your narrative to the firm’s immediate needs, and demonstrating your ability to operate at a higher level, you can stand out even in a more competitive environment. The attorneys winning offers in 2025 aren’t just the most experienced; they’re the ones who can articulate exactly how they’ll add value from day one.