The IPO wave hits Big Law, and Willkie raids Goodwin

Another busy day in the lateral market. Willkie pulled a two-partner private equity team out of Goodwin in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Skadden added an energy and infrastructure partner in Houston, Eversheds Sutherland picked up a finance partner in New York, and Womble Bond Dickinson landed a patent partner in Atlanta.

Even boutiques are getting in on it, taking nearly double the share of top-school laterals they had in 2021.

The backdrop matters too. With SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic all moving toward the public markets, firms are gearing up for a run of capital markets work, and hiring tends to follow the work.