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)

Unlock unparalleled coverage of the legal market


Global attorney database built with the most comprehensive sources of data on the market. Designed for law firm lateral hiring teams, legal headhunters and strategy planners, our data tracks over 605,000 profiles across 130+ countries. PLP enables firms to source talent quicker, leverage their own network for referral opportunities, map out competitors’ org structures, research new markets and much more.

Try PLP for 1 hour

Subscribe to the latest data insights & blog updates



Fresh, original content for Law Firms and Legal Recruiters interested in data, diversity & inclusion, legal market insights, recruitment, and legal practice management.

Get updates via email
A green map of the united kingdom on a white background.
11 June 2025
London dominates much of the UK's legal landscape but other legal hubs play a significant role and some are even growing at a faster rate. We've taken a closer look at the current distribution of the UK's top lawyers, which markets have been growing the fastest, and how large a presence US firms now have in the UK. Using publicly-available data tracked by Pirical Legal Professionals (PLP) , here's a snapshot of the UK legal market in 2025.
Photo from Pirical Pioneers 2025
20 May 2025
Last week, Pirical celebrated a decade of innovation at our biggest Pirical Pioneers event to date! We brought together a fantastic crowd of Recruitment, Strategy, HR & DEI leaders for some insightful panel discussions and previews of our latest tools & new features.
McDermott's office growth post-merger
9 May 2025
Yesterday, McDermott Will & Emery and Schulte Roth & Zabel announced their plans to merge. The combination would create a law firm of around 1,600 attorneys and $2.8 billion of revenue. The merged firm would rank in the top 20 of the AM Law 100. If approved, the merger would unite McDermott's broad expertise in healthcare, dispute resolution, and corporate law with Schulte's deep focus on hedge funds, private capital, and financial regulation. This latest announcement follows in the footsteps of other recent combinations like Herbert Smith Freehills & Kramer Levin and Troutman Pepper & Locke Lord . Using publicly-available data tracked by Pirical Legal Professionals (PLP) , we've taken a look at which locations & practices would grow under the merger.
US attorney headcount by city
6 May 2025
Which US states and cities have the highest number of attorneys, which practice areas are the most prominent and which firms are leading the market with the highest Partner headcount
Lateral Partner demand in certain practices shifted across different segments of the AM Law 200
30 January 2025
Using publicly-available data from Pirical Legal Professionals (PLP), we've taken a look at the lateral Partner hires and headcount growth from 2024 to see which law firms and practices had the most interesting growth stories of the year.
Change in size of Partner promotions class
12 December 2024
As we near the end of the year, there have been a flurry of Partner promotion announcements from the top AM Law firms. Overall, the promotion class sizes have decreased for the second year in a row.
More posts