Today, our guest blogger is Dan Binstock, a recruiter with Garrison and Sisson in Washington, D.C.

Increasingly, firms are offering signing bonuses to entice lateral associates. Though not yet the norm, these bonuses are much more common than they were just a few years ago.

Why? Because there's a particularly high demand now for the “missing mid-level”—associates in practice areas that were hit hard during the 2009-2010 recession (e.g., corporate and real estate). Because few firms developed those associates during those years, there's a critical gap in the ranks.