In early May, Blank Rome and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett announced that they would be opening offices in Boston. This follows a number of AM Law firms that have set up shop in the city in recent years, looking to "break into the thriving technology and life sciences hub."

Among the largest legal hubs in the United States, Boston has had the highest growth in Partner headcount (between May 2020 - May 2024). So let's take a deeper dive into the state of the Boston legal market and find out where this growth has been occurring.

Goodwin Procter, Ropes & Gray and Mintz Levin have the largest number of Partners, with Boston acting as the headquarters for each firm.

13 Global 200 firms have opened offices in Boston since 2020, with 3 taking place in 2024.

Overall, lateral Partner hires have increased by 76% since 2020. Much of this growth occurred in 2021 (+52%) and 2023 (+19%), with Partner moves decreasing slightly in 2022 (-3%).

Most Partners moving into Boston from another location come from New York City and Washington, DC.

Partner promotions have grown year on year and at a higher rate (+104%) than lateral hires (+76%).

"Boston is an incubator for technology and biotech companies, which drives much of the work. Because so many of these companies need funding, Boston is also popular for venture capital companies and private equity companies."

Georgetown Law's summary of why Boston has been attracting Big Law firms echoes our data on practice growth in the city. Corporate (+24%) is the practice group with the largest growth since May 2020, followed by Intellectual Property (+22%) and Insurance (+22%). Various Corporate and Litigation practice areas have registered significant increases in Partner headcount (Employment Litigation +35%, Insurance Litigation +32%, M&A +30% and Private Equity Transactions +27%).

Kirkland & Ellis have added more Partners to their Boston office than any other firm since 2020, with Goodwin Procter not far behind.

Kirkland & Ellis has primarily grown their Corporate practice in Boston, with Partner headcount increasing in Investment Funds and M&A.

Goodwin Procter has increased their Partner numbers in Private Equity Transactions, M&A and Emerging Companies & Venture Capital.

Choate has added the most Partners to the following practices; Private Client, Intellectual Property, Crime, Fraud & Investigations and M&A.

The "Lateral Lovers"

Firms that grew mostly through lateral recruitment

The "Promoters"

Firms that grew their Partnership mostly through promoting their Associates

The "Happy Hybrids"

Firms that grew mostly through a balance of recruitment and promotions

The Promoters

+70% of new Boston Partners at Goodwin Procter and Foley & Lardner came via promotions

The Happy Hybrids

Kirkland & Ellis and others deployed both tactics to increase their Boston Partner headcount

The Lateral Lovers

Barnes & Thornburg, Greenberg Traurig and Withers primarily hired Partners from Boston based rivals in order to grow

Note on methodology

Source: Pirical Legal Professionals, using publicly available data

Timeframe: 2020 - 2024

Partners with multiple locations have been equally distributed across each.

Written using data from Pirical Legal Professionals (PLP)

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