Last week, I wrote about a spate of high-profile government hires, with multiple big firms beefing up their white collar practices.

The hires were a bit surprising, since the New York Law Journal in July reported that legal industry observers felt the white collar market was softening. 

Or maybe not. Since my report last week, another five laterals have jumped from the government to big firm partnerships.  

Is it coincidence? Or is the white collar market picking up steam? My colleague Brenda Sapino Jeffreys talked to several recruiters, who had mixed assessments. 

According to Sapino Jeffreys, California-based recruiter Larry Watanabe, founder of Watanabe Nason, said the demand is up across the board, especially in California.

But Mark Jungers, a partner and co-founder of search firm Lippman Jungers said, "I don't think the market for folks coming out of government—unless they have very established reputations—is great right now, but the market is always great for people who have established reputations for generating business."

Jenna GreeneI'd love to hear what any of you think—on or off the record. Drop me a line at [email protected].

Here are five of the latest hires: 

King & Spalding snapped up another FBI lawyer, adding Sumon Dantiki as a partner in the firm's special matters/government investigations group. Dantiki had been senior counsel at the FBI, advising on national security matters, including cybersecurity, data hacks, privacy and enforcement risks surrounding technologies such as facial recognition and cryptocurrencies.

He's the tenth new partner to join King & Spalding in Washington this year, and arrives on the heels of former FBI chief of staff Zack Harmon. (FBI Director Christopher Wray is a former King & Spalding partner.)

For more, see Another FBI Official Heads to King & Spalding

Kirkland & Ellis added former Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan as a litigation partner. After 16 years in office, Madigan stepped down as Illinois AG in January. Per Kirkland's press release, she was the longest serving attorney general in Illinois and the longest serving female AG in the country. 

As leader of the 750-person office, Madigan collected over $14 billion for the state and personally argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Illinois v. Caballes. (She won.)

But she's a newcomer to Big Law. Prior to becoming AG, Madigan was an Illinois state senator and worked as a litigator at then-law firm Sachnoff & Weaver.

For more, see Former Illinois AG Lisa Madigan Joins Kirkland

At Blank Rome, Jonathan Scott Goldman rejoined the firm as a litigation partner after serving as executive deputy attorney general at the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General. 

Based in the Philadelphia office, he's leading the creation of a new state attorneys general team at Blank Rome.

For more, see As State Prosecutors Keep Teaming Up, Another State AGs Practice Is Born

And Covington & Burling has snagged Amanda Kramer, a former AUSA in the Southern District of New York, as a partner in the firm's white collar defense and investigations practice in New York.

Kramer spent more than 11 years as a federal prosecutor, most recently as a senior member of the SDNY's Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force.

For more, see Covington Hires 11-Year Veteran of SDNY US Attorney's Office

Munger, Tolles & Olson picked up former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission senior official John W. Berry, who joined the firm's  securities and white-collar and investigations litigation groups in Los Angeles.

At the SEC, he oversaw all aspects of the agency's Los Angeles office's enforcement investigations and litigation. Prior to joining the SEC in 2011, Berry was a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.