External recruitment continues to thrive, with lateral hires accounting for more than 40% of partnership appointments. Laurence Simons explains how your firm can both take advantage and avoid being a victim

Twenty years ago, examples of lawyers moving between firms once they had been accepted into a partnership were rare. When they did occur, there was a negative perception, as if a move at this level must be associated with failure or something faintly unsavoury.


Today, however, partner mobility is a fact of life in the legal profession. According to recently published figures, what are termed as lateral hires accounted for more than 40% of partnership appointments in the top 100 firms in 2005/06, and there is no sign of this trend towards external recruitment coming to an end.


So what has caused this major shift in policy within the profession over the past two decades, and how can your firm both take advantage of it and avoid being damaged by it?


The roots of today's partner mobility lie in the increasing commercialisation of the legal sector in the early to mid-1990s. As firms sought advantage over each other in this new, more competitive environment, the traditional lock-step system of rewarding partners began to give way to modified lock-step or even totally merit-based models.


Faced with the opportunity to reap the direct benefits of their abilities and efforts, many of the younger 'rainmakers' in the profession enthusiastically yielded to temptation - and the senior recruitment market took off.


No sooner had it started than it received a major boost as US firms arrived in London in significant numbers, together with their promises of autonomy and their telephone-number pay cheques. From then on, there would be no turning back for the UK legal profession.


However, while the fluid market for partners can bring huge advantages - the opportunity to move quickly into new sectors or locations, for example - it is not one for any firm to enter lightly. Sound preparation is essential.


The first consideration to take into account is your existing partnership culture. Is yours a firm that is really open to new ideas, new thinking, and new ways of doing business?


Are your partners the type of people who will be able to integrate a new individual or even a new team quickly and effectively? Or are they only capable of working alongside people that they have known for a significant period of time?


Most important of all - will they be willing to provide the level of reward needed to make your firm an attractive prospect in an increasingly competitive market-place?


If you can honestly provide positive answers to these questions, then your next step is to formulate an effective recruitment strategy.


Few partners are recruited directly through a traditional advert, no matter how august a publication it appears in. To be successful, you will need to plug into the network of potential movers available in the market. While this can mean using your firm's contacts, it almost certainly also means employing the services of a professional recruitment consultant.


If you are able to make this investment, then ensure you get the best return on it by working as closely as possible with your chosen adviser. Be completely open about what the firm can and cannot offer, and allow them to meet with as many of the existing partners as is practical to assess the current culture and to develop their own feel for the type of individual that will fit in.


If yours is not a high-profile firm, some form of branding advertising may also be worthwhile in conjunction with the work of a search consultant to raise awareness of your success to date and plans.


Few of the adverts that appeared in the early years of the US invasion, for example, actually resulted in the right person applying, but they certainly made potential targets take the calls of the search consultants when they came through.


Remember that partner recruitment takes place in an unpredictable market-place. Consequently, the firms that are most effective are those which prepare well, work with the right intermediaries and, above all, are flexible enough to take advantage of the opportunities that occur ad hoc.


Just because it would suit your firm to recruit a specialist partner with a strong following within the next three months does not mean that one will be available. The key is to be ready to hire and assimilate as and when the best individuals come on to the market. Potential partner hires have an alarming tendency to behave like buses - none for ages, then half a dozen at the same time.


While partner mobility offers opportunities to an enterprising firm, it can also pose challenges and you may well find yourself the victim of a departure rather than the beneficiary of an arrival.


Obvious measures can be taken to reduce the chances of this happening. Fair reward for achievement - irrespective of length of tenure - respect for new ideas, a truly collegiate atmosphere and an environment of trust and openness, will all play valuable parts here, but in even the best run firm the attractions of greener grass can result in defections.


If this does happen, the most important priority is to preserve reputation and morale, and stop one departure resulting in a haemorrhage of clients or staff.


Try to ensure that the departure is handled smoothly and in as amicable a manner as possible. Even if your true feelings are of anger and betrayal, your message should be one of understanding that this is the right opportunity for this individual, while subtly inferring that it would not be for anyone else in the firm.


Take the line, both internally and externally, that this is not a loss to be worried about, but rather a positive opportunity to develop and move forwards. And if you have any doubts about your ability to handle this, then employ a professional to assist you.


Good PR people do not come cheap, but in comparison to the damage that can be incurred by staff and client losses, their fees quickly pale into financial insignificance.


Laurence Simons is managing partner at specialist legal recruiter, Laurence Simons International