Which AM Law 100 firms have been the best at retaining their Associate hires?

8 October 2024

According to a survey released earlier this year by NALP (National Association for Law Placement), in 2023 the Associate lateral market declined by nearly 43%, a continuation of a lateral hiring slow down since the frenzy of 2021. This trend of making fewer and fewer Associate hires made us wonder, which law firms have been the best at retaining the Associates they do hire?


Using publicly-available data tracked by Pirical Legal Professionals (PLP), we've taken a look at how many of the Associate hires made by AM Law 100 firms between 2020 - 2023 are still at their firm.

Most firms had a similar ratio of Associate hires to exits, but there are a few outliers

Ranked: which firms had the highest Associate retention rates from 2020 - 2023?


Note on methodology

Source: Pirical Legal Professionals, data is derived from Associate moves that can be tracked from a variety of publicly available sources

Excludes: Associate moves as a result of mergers

Timeframe: Jan 2020 - Dec 2023

Written using publicly-available data from Pirical Legal Professionals (PLP)

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