The Chicago lateral attorney hiring market remained active and highly competitive in 2025 and has continued into early 2026, driven by sustained demand across key practice areas and continued strategic expansion by law firms. The following provides an overview of recent hiring trends, practice area demand, and broader market developments shaping the Chicago legal landscape.
Lateral Hiring Trends in 2025
Nationally, law firm lateral attorney movement remained elevated in 2025 following a 2024 resurgence in transactional and litigation work. As recently noted in the American Lawyer, Lateral hiring rose nearly 9% year-over-year, reaching its highest level since the 2021–2022 hiring surge, while law firm mergers increased 25% to 59 combinations in 2025. 1 Separately, Reuters, citing SurePoint Legal Insights, found that general lawyer mobility increased approximately 15%, with litigation and corporate practices continuing to drive volume, along with significant growth in banking, real estate, and bankruptcy.2 These trends have also been reflected in targeted hiring activity in Chicago.
Overall, lateral attorney hiring in Chicago increased by 24% in 2025, with 1,023 attorneys joining Am Law 200 firms and top Chambers-ranked midsize firms. Litigation was the most active practice area, accounting for 32% of all lateral hires in the Chicago market.3 This aligns with national trends, as firms have continued to invest in litigation as a more stable, countercyclical revenue source.
Corporate and finance were also highly active practice areas, accounting for 26% of Chicago’s lateral hires. An uptick in large-cap strategic M&A deals, combined with continued private equity deal flow, drove demand for M&A partners and midlevel associates.
Leveraged and sponsor-side acquisition finance underpinned activity at leading Chicago finance practice groups, supported by a predominance of large-cap private equity transactions and a steady pipeline of upper middle market activity. Private credit and fund finance teams were also active in hiring. Chicago private investment funds practices remained busy, with many groups expanding their liquidity solutions, continuation funds, and secondaries capabilities.
Top Chicago real estate practice groups remained busy in 2025 with substantial growth in real estate transactions involving data centers and AI cloud infrastructure. Labor and employment practices in Chicago remained active in 2025, driven by both employment counseling and employment litigation. On the counseling side, demand was fueled by increased M&A and private equity activity, workforce restructuring, and ongoing compliance with evolving employment regulations. On the litigation side, firms are targeting attorneys with experience in wage and hour claims, discrimination and retaliation matters, and other employment-related disputes, reflecting broader economic pressures and workforce changes.
2026 Hiring Thus Far
As the first quarter of 2026 concludes, Chicago lateral attorney hiring has remained steady, with continued demand across the same key practice areas that were active in 2025. In total, Am Law 200 and top Chambers-ranked midsize firms in Chicago hired 222 attorneys in the first quarter. While this represents a 22% decline from the first quarter of 2025, last year reflected record-level hiring at pre-pandemic highs, and activity remains within a healthy range. Litigation, corporate, and finance continue to lead as the most active hiring areas, with IP and real estate also seeing notable demand.
There are currently approximately 360 open public and non-public associate positions among Am Law 200 and top Chambers-ranked midsize firms in Chicago. These openings are concentrated in commercial litigation, M&A, debt finance (including acquisition and private credit), structured finance, real estate, labor and employment, and IP litigation, with particular demand for experience in AI and machine learning, software, SaaS, cloud computing, and life sciences and biotechnology.
New Office Openings and Law Firm Mergers
Chicago, as a major financial center for private equity, banking, and asset management, continues to be a desirable growth market for law firms, with a number of large firms recently opening offices in the city.
Key recent law firm openings and expansions in Chicago in 2025 and early 2026 highlight continued investment in the market by national and international firms. Philadelphia-based Dechert LLP opened a new Chicago office in 2026, driven by the addition of a large group of partners focused on complex litigation. Washington, D.C.–headquartered Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld launched its Chicago office in September 2025 with a four-partner team focused on investment management, corporate, and infrastructure M&A. Minneapolis-headquartered Dorsey & Whitney similarly expanded its footprint, opening its Chicago office in November 2025 through the addition of partner groups specializing in commercial litigation and trusts and estates.
IP powerhouse Fish & Richardson established a West Loop/tech district office in June 2025. The magic circle firm A&O Shearman launched its Chicago office in April 2025 as part of its broader U.S. growth, with key partner additions focused on M&A, private equity, as well as energy and infrastructure transactions. California-based Am Law 200 firm Buchalter also expanded into Chicago in January 2025, enhancing its real estate, banking, and finance capabilities. These moves reflect a broader trend of national firms expanding into Chicago to better serve both existing and new private equity, investment management, and other corporate clients.
Nationally, 2025 and early 2026 have also marked a significant period of law firm mergers and consolidation, as firms pursue scale, broaden capabilities, and respond to evolving client demands. This trend transpired in Chicago-based McDermott Will & Emery’s merger with Schulte Roth & Zabel to form McDermott Will & Schulte. The combination created a 1,600+ lawyer platform with a preeminent expertise in corporate M&A, healthcare, tax, private capital, and hedge funds. Additionally, another firm with a sizeable Chicago presence, Taft merged with Atlanta-based Morris Manning & Martin, expanding its footprint into the Southeast and strengthening its capabilities in corporate, real estate, and litigation as part of its broader national growth strategy.
In summary, as 2026 progresses, Chicago firms continue to hire selectively, with demand focused on key practice areas, and this trend is expected to continue through the remainder of the year, subject to market conditions.
This is the latest installment in a series of posts from Lateral Link’s team of expert contributors. Jesse Hyde is a Principal based in the Chicago office, where he oversees attorney placements and client services in Chicago and throughout the Midwest. He specializes in placing associates, partners, and in-house counsel with leading Am Law 100 and 200 law firms and premier corporations. Jesse received his J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law where he was a Member of the Loyola University Chicago Law Journal. Jesse received his B.A. from the University of Michigan and majored in history. Before recruiting, he practiced as a commercial litigation attorney with a Chicago-based law firm for four years.
1 https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/2026/03/25/law-firm-lateral-hiring-matched-post-pandemic-high-in-2025-industry-report-says/
2 https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/legal-talent-movement-year-review–pracin-2026-01-08/
3 Law firm hiring data was sourced from SurePoint Legal Insights.
