Are associates leaving law firms earlier?
In the in-house searches we run, the target class year has moved from the fifth or sixth year to the third or fourth. A record 83 percent of associates who left their firms in 2025 exited within five years of hire, up from 80 percent in 2024, according to the NALP Foundation. Lateral hires beat entry-level hires again, 3,296 to 3,039, after a year when entry-level hiring led. Firms buy experience instead of growing it.
Firms and associates now treat the junior years as short-term. Associates plan the exit early and firms backfill with laterals. The NALP Foundation's 2024 report found 18 percent of departing associates went in-house, up from 15 percent the year before, and 41 percent joined another firm.
- Participating firms
- 2024
- 119
- 2025
- 141
- Overall attrition rate
- 2024
- 20%
- 2025
- 19%
- Associate hires
- 2024
- 6,092
- 2025
- 6,335
- Associate departures
- 2024
- 4,125
- 2025
- 4,442
- Departures within five years of hire
- 2024
- 80%
- 2025
- 83%
- Lateral share of hires
- 2024
- 45%
- 2025
- 52%
| Measure | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Participating firms | 119 | 141 |
| Overall attrition rate | 20% | 19% |
| Associate hires | 6,092 | 6,335 |
| Associate departures | 4,125 | 4,442 |
| Departures within five years of hire | 80% | 83% |
| Lateral share of hires | 45% | 52% |
Which associates get in-house-ready experience first?
In the deal work we see, fewer and larger transactions concentrate the work.
In the corporate searches we run, the candidates in-house teams ask for most often have worked on larger deals. In our view, associates on those deals build marketable experience earlier than associates on smaller matters.
Why is the in-house move happening earlier?
The in-house teams we work with hire earlier than they used to, so associates can realistically make the jump before the mid-level mark.
On the in-house side, we run searches at class years that would've been a year or two more senior not long ago. Companies that once waited for a seasoned fifth or sixth year now open the search at the third or fourth, because that's where available talent sits.
What class year should in-house teams hire?
If the experienced associate is leaving at year three or four instead of five or six, an in-house employer waiting for a seasoned fifth-year will find the pool already thinned. The teams hiring well in 2026 moved their target down a class or two, and they accepted that they'll finish the training themselves.
Write the spec a class year or two lower than instinct says. Set the budget and the ramp plan to match, because a search scoped to the old target stays open while candidates take other offers.
When should an associate go in-house?
Associate exits happen earlier now, but jumping early isn't automatically better. If you leave at year three with one deal of real substance, you're in a different spot than someone who touched the edges of ten. In the searches we run, in-house hiring managers screen junior lawyers hard for depth that a shorter run doesn't guarantee.
Make sure the one or two matters on your résumé show ownership before you jump. An early move backfires when you mistake exposure for ownership, and that gap tends to come out in the interview.