Careers
The Lateral Shuffle: Lawyers Return to Old Firms
Posted Jul 31, 2008, 06:25 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Lawyer Tim Ryan is an extreme example of a situation occurring with increasing frequency: Lawyers who left their law firms are returning.
Ryan returned to Mayer Brown in July, taking a job there for the fourth time, the National Law Journal reports.
"This time I was asked to sign my name in blood," Ryan jokes. "There was a lot of Super Glue on my chair when I came back."
The increase in lateral movement among lawyers has led to the “coming home” phenomenon, the article reports. Among the law firms that have welcomed back departing lawyers are Howrey; Winston & Strawn; McDermott, Will & Emery; and Chadbourne & Parke.
In some cases, lawyers returned after conflicts of interest were resolved. In others, the lawyers found their new jobs didn’t meet expectations or required skills such as management that they didn’t enjoy.
Jon Lindsey, managing partner of the New York office of attorney recruiter Major, Lindsey & Africa, told the National Law Journal that lawyers aren’t leaving their firms to make more money. Its survey found lawyers leave because they want to feel valued, supported, listened to and included among colleagues.
Nor is money the reason lawyers return to their old firms. "What brings people back is the personal relationships,” he said. “They miss their friends.”