Bloomberg Law: “Welcome back to the Big Law Business column on the changing legal marketplace written by me, Roy Strom. This week, we look at how the richest firms are bulking up their hiring strategies after a record year. Sign up to receive this column in your inbox on Thursday mornings. It was mid-August when I wrote there would be increased lateral hiring by the richest firms this year. That’s when the wealthiest firms had begun to separate themselves financially from their peers, and the theory was that they would use their outsized profits to invest in talent. It’s only February, but so far, well, that is exactly what is happening in a surging lateral market. Through Feb. 16, there have been 209 lateral partner hires made by firms in the AmLaw 100, 15% more than the 182 this group hired in the same period last year, according to data from Leopard Solutions. Crucially, though, the richest firms have seen the biggest surge in activity. The top 10 firms ranked by profits per equity partner in the American Lawyer’s latest available rankings made 15 hires through mid-February this year compared to just four during the early weeks of 2020. The top 50 firms by PPP have hired 67 partners so far this year, compared to 36 during the same period last year…”