Partners with a book of business are always in demand. But lately law firms in the Philadelphia area have been focused on finding young lawyers with a few years of experience to handle all the work the firms already have on their plates.

Legal recruiters said Philadelphia-area law firms, both large and midsize, have been eager to hire associates in recent months, noting that lawyers trained in specialized practice areas are particularly sought-after.

Several industrywide reports have said 2018 was the best year for law firm demand in a decade. And a survey by Citi Private Bank's Law Firm Group found that Pennsylvania-based firms saw demand growth of 2.6 percent last year, slightly above the industry average of 2.3 percent.

Early reports from Pennsylvania-based Am Law 200 firms have shown widespread gains in revenue per lawyer. Leaders of those firms have described the year as “solid,” most pointing to demand upticks across multiple practices.

Sandy Mannix, a recruiter at Abelson Legal Search, said there has been an increase in hiring, especially at the midlevel associate level and sometimes stretching into senior associates.

Steven Kruza of Kruza Legal Search said it's a continuing trend, and he wonders when another economic downturn will bring it to an end. Associate hiring seems to have increased each year for the past five years, he said, with activity picking up a little later than other markets following the Great Recession.

Steven Kruza, Kruza Legal Search

“Philly tends to lag behind on both ends. If there is a recession, it might not feel the effects as quickly either,” he said.

Jason Mandel, director of legal recruitment at Alevistar, said corporate associates are an especially hot commodity. And the selection of midlevels in that area is not abundant because corporate practices weren't hiring a lot of new lawyers several years back.

“Firms were conservative a few years back and weren't hiring as many transactions attorneys,” Mandel said. “There's a lot of deal flow right now.”

Mandel also said it's a challenge for firms to laterally hire good midlevel associates on the corporate side because a lot of them are more interested in going in-house than in going to another firm.

“The grass isn't always greener on the other side [in-house], but it's perceived as a better lifestyle, and a better opportunity to actually be a part of these deals,” he said.

Changing Criteria

Mannix said firms have become a little more flexible when it comes to hiring lawyers without a portable book of business. They're more often considering “someone who has developed client relationships but doesn't have the dollars to move with them,” she said.

Kruza said area law firms were conservative in hiring new associates for a while coming out of the recession, which has caused a void in the midlevel associate ranks. That has combined with the competitive associate salary landscape as Philadelphia firms make their own pay decisions on a smaller scale, following raises at industry leading firms in 2016 and 2018.

Jason Mandel

“All the salary bumps that trickled down, that has made it a very interesting market for midlevel associates,” Kruza said. “It has made the midlevel associates the buyer for sure.”

Where firms are making specific requests, however, is in the type of law those lawyers practice.

They're “continuing stress on people with very specific criteria in their background that meets the firm's needs,” Mannix said. “If they want a specific type of tax law, you better have that type of experience.”

Real estate is another area where firms have been looking to specialize, Mannix noted.

“That reflects just basically a change in business strategy for many firms. They're becoming more specialized,” Kruza said.

Elite firms started doing it years ago, he said, and others are catching on as the legal industry becomes more competitive. Specialized practices allow them to charge higher rates, but they need the talent to back it up, even at the associate level.

But finding young lawyers with specific skills can be a challenge.

“More than any time in my recruiting career I'm telling people you're not going to find that person … there are a handful of people with that background in this market,” Kruza said.

That kind of scarcity is creating opportunities for associates to make a transition they may not have been able to years ago, Mandel said.

“I'm seeing candidates speaking to firms they might not have spoken to a couple years ago,” he said. “Firms are taking chances a little more with associates.”