Finally, a week in which the lateral market takes a breather. As August grinds on, fewer and fewer firms announce new partner hires in Washington, D.C. That doesn't mean we haven't had a busy year thus far, and that the lateral market won't spike again in September or toward year's end.

Below are five of the most significant firm-to-firm moves in the nation's capital through the first eight months of 2017, according to several local legal recruiters and our own data.

1. Jenner & Block's rebuilding year: Appellate star Paul Smith's announcement in January that he would leave the firm to join the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit, after the departure of several of his colleagues to open a new office for Munger, Tolles & Olson, set the tone for a rebuild at the firm. And rebuild it has. Former acting U.S. Solicitor General Ian Gershengorn will return to Jenner & Block in September to lead its appellate group. The firm's Washington, D.C., office picked up seven other partners, including an aviation group from United Airlines and Crowell & Moring and United Airlines Inc., an energy regulatory partner from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, a communications group from the Federal Communications Commission and three more partners from the federal government.