In today's hot lateral legal market, attorneys who have spent their entire career at one law firm are no longer the norm.

There were nearly 9,000 lateral partner moves within the Am Law 200 in the five-year span from 2014 through 2018, bringing an estimated $17.1 billion in total business with them. For perspective, revenue at Am Law 200 firms grew by $16.9 billion over that same time frame.

Amid the madness, attorneys who stay with one firm for their entire career can still be found. So why do these so-called “lifers” stay, and what do they think of today's lateral market? Although each of the following lawyers works at a different firm, they gave similar answers, citing loyalty, mentorship and personal and professional fulfillment.

Steven Weinstein in 1991 and now

Steven Weinstein — Managing Partner of K&L Gates' Miami Office  — 26 years at the firm (since 1993)

Weinstein has a simple answer for why he has been with K&L Gates for almost 30 years:

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

“I never really made a conscious decision to stay,” he said. “I always try to appreciate the good I have.”

He relishes stability, he said, and the work-life balance K&L Gates allowed him. Weinstein said he was “exceptionally” involved in his twin sons' activities—he even coached their sports teams. And he genuinely enjoys coming into work each day, a sentiment shared by other lifers.

Weinstein said mentorship also played a huge factor, rattling off the names of important mentors he had in his legal career and K&L Gates attorneys who helped him develop into a leader at the firm, including former K&L partners Dan Casey, Gregg Breitbart and Dennis Nowak.

As for why today's lateral market is so hot, Weinstein has a few guesses but no definitive theories. One possible reason is generational, he said. From his personal experience with his sons, young attorneys have a different attitude about what satisfies them professionally. It's not just about money anymore.

But competition has gotten stiffer as Big Law firms have come pouring into the Sunshine State. Since 2003, the number of Am Law 200 firms with a Florida presence has nearly doubled.

With Big Law competition comes big guarantees on salaries and big titles, Weinstein said.

“If it's primarily a monetary decision, I can see why some people might leave,” he said.

Jennifer Olmedo-Rodriguez in August 2001 and now

Jennifer Olmedo-Rodriguez — Managing Partner of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney's Miami Office — 16 years at the firm (since 2003)

Olmedo-Rodriguez said that at her core, she's a loyal person: She has had the same hairdresser since she was 9 years old.

But loyalty is earned, and Buchanan has surely earned hers, she said.

Not only did they allow her to defer her job offer so she could take a judicial clerkship, they kept the offer on the table even as the events of Sept. 11 led to her law school colleagues having their job offers revoked. When she started, the firm got her immediately involved, bringing her to hearings and depositions instead of “locking her in a back room to bill hours.”

And, when she left for three years to take care of her first child—working from home in the interim doing regulatory work in Spanish—the firm welcomed her back “with open arms.”

“They put me back into my class year, kept me on that track,” she said. “Even the code to get into the office and my computer was the same. … It was like I never left.”

 

Associate Joe Rich in 2002 and now

Joseph Rich — Managing Partner at Cozen O'Connor's Miami office — 15 years at the firm (since 2004)

Like Weinstein, Rich attributed his long career at Cozen O'Connor to the work-life balance.

“I don't feel like I'm ever missing out on family time,” Rich said. “I have a lot of friends that are attorneys, and they can't say the same thing.”

Rich was also given multiple senior mentors in a variety of areas, from writing to socializing. He was also fully supported in all of his business development ventures, he said, adding that support of that kind isn't a given and is a big reason why people leave their firms. 

“A lot of people took a vested interest in my development, and I don't feel like that's common in similar firms of our size,” he said.

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