Washington, D.C., at the Tidal Basin with the Rosslyn business district cityscape. (Photo: Sean Pavone/Shutterstock.com)

With year-end around the corner, it's typical for lateral movement to slow. But several Philadelphia-based firms have continued to focus on recruiting in a key market to the south.

Ballard Spahr, Cozen O'Connor and Duane Morris have all made targeted hires in or near the nation's capital in recent months. While the lawyers they have brought on may not have direct links to the federal government, the firms see their practices as areas of opportunity in an active and competitive market.

Cozen O'Connor added partner Christopher Sweeney and associate Alexandra Busch to its Washington, D.C., construction law practice this month, and two weeks earlier brought on Washington partners Stephen Seeger and Jesse Keene in the same practice.

Duane Morris brought on partner Geoffrey M. Goodale, who focuses on international trade, from FisherBroyles. His practice touches on regulatory issues administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of Treasury.

Ballard Spahr brought on Baltimore-based partner Marybeth Orsini this week, and she is the third public finance attorney to join the firm in Maryland or D.C. in the past two months.

Two other Philadelphia-based Am Law 100 firms brought on lawyers in specialized practices in or near the nation's capital earlier in the year. Blank Rome brought on Washington partner Helen Michael in August as part of a four-lawyer insurance recovery group, the rest of which is based in Los Angeles. And Fox Rothschild brought on a sizable aviation group from LeClairRyan in the Washington area and Northern Virginia, also in August.

While regulatory work has slowed under the current administration, these firms have sought to bulk up other practices that remain active.

"There's just not a whole lot happening in the regulatory world down in D.C. right now," said Mark Stewart, chairman of Ballard Spahr. But, "Our office has historically been unlike a lot of traditional D.C. offices in that we didn't have a large number of regulatory lawyers or practices there."

Though, Stewart noted, the firm more recently added a federal lobbying group that is certainly more central to D.C. politics. Ballard also recently added its first white-collar lawyer in the D.C. area, he noted.

Cozen O'Connor CEO Michael Heller noted that the firm's D.C. office has grown to more than 80 lawyers—its head count there was in the single digits a decade ago, according to data from ALM Intelligence.

Heller said the real estate practice there has grown to 11 lawyers, and the firm has made significant acquisitions in real estate and land use over recent years. He also noted specialized areas like transportation and the state attorneys general practice, which came from Dickstein Shapiro in 2015.

"There is so much real estate and construction development going on in the D.C. region that we have needed to expand" in those areas, he said. "Our strategy is to continue to look for the niche practices that are best in class."

With regard to what the future may hold, Heller said Cozen O'Connor isn't letting current politics or the potential results of future elections shape his firm's lateral recruiting and expansion in the capital.

"We are just continuing our strategy of building out not only the D.C. office on a full-service basis … but also continuing to look for great niche practices that fit well in that market," he said.

Stewart said he's heard from lateral candidates in the regulatory space who have seen their practices slow since Donald Trump took office. For now, he said, Ballard Spahr will look to grow  the practices it already has near the capital.

"If there's a change in administration, I think then you'll see a lot more growth in D.C. I don't know how we'll participate in that," Stewart said.