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Onward Insights - October 2026
Nearly one in eight lawyers who moved between Am Law 200 firms in the first half of 2026 arrived with at least two colleagues from their old firm. This edition covers what the data shows about group moves, how 21 lawyers left Wiley Rein together to launch Tyka Law, and the questions to ask when your partner or your own team is considering a move. It closes with our September Attorney Mobility Brief.
Onward Insights - September 2026
The legal market is moving faster than it has in years. Associate attrition is at 19%, lateral hiring has officially overtaken entry-level recruiting for the first time ever, and the cultural stigma around making a move has essentially disappeared. In this issue, we unpack what's actually driving the shift, what the comp conversation is really telling you, and where 953 August associate moves landed.
The Era of Lawyer Loyalty Is Over: Why the Free Agency Model Is the New BigLaw Standard
The implicit contract between law firms and their attorneys has broken down. With associate attrition at nineteen percent and Wachtell losing nine partners in under two years, the legal market has permanently reframed attorney mobility as professional strategy. Here is what the data says, and what it means for your next career decision.
Onward Insights - August 2026
Attorney loyalty is no longer the safest career strategy. This edition of Onward Insights looks at why even Wachtell is losing partners, how Big Law is restructuring around lateral hiring instead of law school pipelines, what recent compensation announcements actually mean once you read past the headline, and what the July 2026 market data signals for attorneys weighing a move.
A Raise Announcement Is Not the Whole Story: Decoding BigLaw Compensation
Milbank rewrote the associate salary scale in June 2026, and firms raced to match it. A headline announcement and money in your account are two different things. At least one firm announced it was joining the salary race and then quietly froze those raises until 2027. Here is how to read a compensation announcement before making any career decisions.
BigLaw Is Structurally Changing How It Hires: The Shift From Building to Buying Talent
For the first time in modern legal history, lateral associate hiring has outpaced entry-level hiring, with 3,296 laterals versus 3,039 law school hires in 2025. BigLaw has made its decision. Firms are filling their talent pipelines through the open market rather than building from the bottom up, and that structural shift carries major implications for attorneys who know how to read it.
Associate Mobility Brief - Market Intelligence | JuLY 2026
The associate lateral market posted its first month-over-month increase since March, with 1,126 attorney moves recorded in July - up from June's 1,079. Labor & Employment led all practice areas for the second consecutive month with a net gain of +67, while Corporate turned net-negative for the first time in three months. DC continued to absorb talent at the strongest net rate of any major market, and associates accounted for 52% of all lateral arrivals. Here's what the data signals heading into the back half of Q3.
Onward Insights - July 2026
Global M&A crossed $2.85 trillion and legal employment hit a record for the third straight month. But in a market moving this fast, a big hiring number and real growth are not the same thing. Here is what H1 2026 actually looked like, firm by firm and market by market.
Associate Mobility Brief - Market Intelligence | June 2026
Our June 2026 Market Intelligence Briefing tracks 1,079 attorney lateral moves, highlighting strong momentum in Labor & Employment, steady gains in Litigation and Corporate, and a softening Insurance market. See where legal talent is moving, which law schools are feeding the pipeline, and what it signals for law firm hiring heading into Q3.
Onward Insights - June 2026
What three years of building Onward taught us about searches that stall, hires that last, and why a small team can move better than a large one.
What Law Firm BD Programs Get Wrong - And What It Costs in the Lateral Market
Most law firms don't fail at business development because attorneys resist growth. They fail because the systems they build quietly teach attorneys to avoid it. Here is what that looks like from the lateral market side of the conversation.
What Does a Director of Innovation at a Law Firm Actually Do?
Director of Innovation means something different at every law firm. At some firms it is a technology deployment role. At others it is closer to change management or knowledge management. At others it is a hybrid of all three. These are genuinely different jobs, and firms that write a single job description combining all three versions are the ones whose searches stall or produce the wrong result. This piece covers what the role actually requires, what the strongest candidates look like in practice, and why standard recruiting approaches consistently fail to find them.