Risks and Opportunities for Associates During a Lateral Transition

Summary: 

• Associates benefit most from a lateral move when they have clear professional goals, but their current firm no longer aligns with those objectives, either because they are not receiving the right training and experience or because partners do not see the associate as having long-term potential.

• An associate’s career can veer off course for many reasons outside their control. Internal politics, health challenges, family crises, difficult personalities, ineffective firm management, and a lack of timely feedback, among other factors, can create obstacles to career advancement. A lateral move can get a promising career back on track.

• A lateral move can be the best thing for one’s career. Yet each transition takes time and energy and entails certain professional costs. Therefore, it is critically important to fully explore the options before committing to a lateral move.

This article was first published in August 2026 issue of ABA’s Law Practice Today.

Leah is a sixth-year associate. Until 18 months ago, she consistently received excellent performance evaluations. Last year, she experienced some health challenges, which resulted in a poor review. Despite her efforts to regain momentum, her evaluations have not fully recovered. Leah’s long-term goal is to become a partner. However, the signals she is receiving suggest that the partners view her future trajectory as a staff attorney rather than a partner.

Associates who benefit most from a lateral move are those who, like Leah, have clear goals but recognize that their current environment is no longer supporting the future they want to build.

As a coach, I work with lawyers at all levels who are considering whether to leave their firms. Typically, the first step is to clarify their future goals. The second is to determine whether their current situation can be improved through better communication, stronger boundaries, improved time management, or other targeted changes. The more clarity you have about what you want long term and what might be improved within your current job, the more wisely you can evaluate the risks and opportunities of a lateral move.

A Lateral Move Is an Opportunity for a Reset

A lateral move means changing jobs from one law firm to another while remaining at approximately the same level of seniority and in a substantially similar role. In contrast, moving from private practice to government or to an in-house role generally would not be considered a “lateral move” because those positions involve different responsibilities and career paths.

If any of the following reflect your situation, you may benefit from a lateral move:

• You are not working on the types of matters and clients that you want.
  This could be because the firm simply does not attract your desired work or because it is being assigned to others. Either way, if your legal work is not making you more marketable and more capable in the areas of law you care about, this alone is sufficient reason to move.

• You are not receiving level-appropriate training and opportunities.
  Over time, if you are not being exposed to progressively higher-level work, greater responsibility, and meaningful client contact, your professional development may be stalling. If the firm or your partners are not investing in your growth, they are hindering it.

• Your firm or practice group is flailing.
  If there does not seem to be enough work to go around, if partners or senior associates are hoarding work, if the best clients are leaving, if important partners have left, and if the remaining partners are struggling to cope, all these are signs that your practice group is struggling. Your career is like a plant. If it is located in bad soil, it will not thrive.

• You are not getting adequate hours.
  If your billable hours are consistently far below expectations for any reason, this is a good indicator that you will be better off elsewhere. Low hours could be because your entire practice has slowed down or because the partners have developed a bias against working with you. Regardless of the reason, it is a sign to leave.

• If your skills and temperament are not appreciated.
  Although an excellent legal team requires a range of skills and personalities, some people may be blind to the benefits you provide. For example, if your kindness and collegiality are valued by clients but dismissed by your managing partner as wimpy, or if your thoroughness is regarded as nitpicky, your current firm may not be the best fit.

• You are consistently, deeply unhappy.
  Every job has its hardships but if you are truly miserable, this is sufficient reason to leave. Deciding whether to pursue a lateral move or a more significant career change may take time and reflection. However, staying in a role you despise is unlikely to support long-term professional growth or fulfillment.

If your goal is partnership, and you are within 2–3 years of a partnership decision, these factors also can be an excellent reason to leave.

• You are not being viewed as partnership material.
  If you are seen as a good worker, a contribution to the firm, but NOT as someone who brings adequate big-picture perspective, client service orientation, or sufficient gravitas, you might be better off going elsewhere.
  

• You don’t have an advocate who is willing to fight for you.
  Partnership can be extraordinarily competitive, and the decisions to elevate a lawyer to the partnership can be driven by business and personality factors that are outside of your control. In many firms, despite being extraordinarily capable, smart, and hardworking, if you don’t have an existing partner advocating for your promotion, it is unlikely to occur.

If any of these apply to you, a lateral move can provide an opportunity to reset and get your practice on a path that better fits your goals.

Risks of Making a Lateral Move

Understanding risks helps you prevent future problems. Here are some issues to be aware of when evaluating prospective lateral moves. 

• The firm’s approach to the thoroughness/efficiency spectrum could be different from what you are used to.
  This is particularly common when moving from biglaw to a regional firm, or vice versa. The highest-paying clients may be willing to pay for a level of thoroughness that midsize companies are not. Aligning how you approach the work with client expectations could require a mental shift. Also, if you are a person who loves digging into the most complex legal issues, you may find that it is less rewarding at a firm that focuses more on efficiency.

• The firm may not realize that there is a disconnect between your experience and what they need.
  As an associate, you may reasonably consider it to be the partners’ and the recruiter’s responsibility to ask the right questions to ensure an appropriate match. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen. A mismatch can result in significant stress, difficult conversations, pressure to close experience gaps quickly, and/or billable work that does not align with your interests. Therefore, during the interview process, it is wise to ask detailed questions about the matters they plan to assign you.

• The firm may not provide sufficient training and guidance to bridge a gap in your skills or experience.
  A firm sometimes hires for potential and believes that missing skills can be developed over time. This can work out beautifully as long as everyone is clear about expectations and there is a realistic development plan. If a firm does not provide adequate support, as sometimes happens, the associate may fall behind expectations, and the consequences can include delayed advancement or even being asked to leave the firm.

• It could be a bad work environment. 
  Associate life is rarely easy, but some partners are terrible to work for. Some of the open associate positions will doubtless be in this category. By asking targeted questions and seeking out information from your network and other sources, it should be possible to identify and avoid a bad situation.

• Integration and ramp-up time may be longer than you anticipate.
  Anytime you enter a new workplace, you always need to prove yourself. At your previous firm, your partners knew your capabilities and trusted you. At a new firm, that trust must be rebuilt. Learning the personalities, work styles, and expectations of new colleagues takes time. So does adjusting to a new technology stack, business systems, workflows, and their approach to using AI. During the transition period, billable hours are often lower than usual, which can add stress and create pressure to demonstrate value quickly.

• You may not retain your current level of seniority.
  If you are a seventh-year associate at your current firm, you may join another firm as a fifth- or sixth-year associate. While this can initially feel like a setback, it gives you a chance to develop key relationships and establish a track record at the firm before being evaluated for promotion. Although many lawyers find this frustrating, it ultimately can position you for greater long-term success.

• You may lose relationships.
  After spending years working with partners and colleagues, receiving guidance, and being in the trenches together for litigation or high-stakes deals, the loss of those relationships can feel like a significant blow. Some former colleagues are gracious when you move on, and others may be very angry and resentful, leading to awkward situations in the future.

A lateral move can be the best thing for your career. Yet, each transition takes time and energy and comes with certain professional costs. This is why it is so important to fully explore the options before committing to a lateral move.

Additional Considerations During a Financial Downturn

You may have heard horror stories about firms that seemed prestigious and financially rock solid but collapsed seemingly out of nowhere. In uncertain economic times, a prospective lateral associate might reasonably wonder if they would be more or less vulnerable to being fired if they go to a new firm. In other professions, people sometimes talk about the “last-in, first-out” rule, whereby if layoffs occur, there is a bias to first fire the last person hired. There are several reasons that this is not something one sees in law firms. If the firm spent the time and money to hire you, it is because they have the work and they need someone to do it. Plus, they probably just paid a recruiter a significant amount of money to find you, and it would seem absurd to throw that away.

We tend to focus on the risks of taking action, yet the risks of nonaction are often just as significant. Your current firm could experience a major setback as easily as the prospective new firm. When a firm is actively recruiting, it usually means that they have made a strategic decision to invest in and grow your practice area, which might not be the case in your current firm.

Conclusion

As a lawyer, your expertise and key professional relationships are two of the strongest drivers of future opportunities. Career decisions that strengthen those assets typically create the most long-term value and give you the most flexibility. Whether your vision for the future is to be Chambers Band 1–ranked in your practice area, to go in-house, or to build a career that allows substantial time for family, hobbies, or other priorities, the expertise and relationships you develop during your years as an associate lay the foundation for achieving those goals. 

See also: Q&A for Lateral Associates