Rutherford Releases its Annual Legal Partner Moves Report
Rutherford is pleased to present the latest edition of its Annual Legal Partner Moves Report, providing an overview of lateral partner activity across the UK legal market and international firms operating within it for the 2025 calendar year.
This year’s report is particularly notable as it reflects a period defined by sustained market activity alongside increasingly considered hiring behaviour at senior level. Broader economic pressures, shifting client demand, and continued international competition have combined to shape a partner recruitment landscape that is both active and carefully disciplined. Against this backdrop, the report seeks to provide a clear and reflective view of the trends observed over the past twelve months, together with the structural dynamics likely to influence the period ahead.
Throughout 2025, partner hiring remained an important strategic lever for law firms. However, recruitment decisions were characterised less by expansionary momentum and more by alignment to performance, platform strength, and long-term commercial positioning. This measured approach underscores the continued importance of precision in senior hiring, particularly within a market where competition for proven revenue-generating partners remains strong.
At the same time, the timing and distribution of hiring activity highlight the practical realities of modern partner recruitment processes. Extended timelines, rigorous internal approvals, and carefully defined mandates continue to shape how and when senior moves complete, reinforcing a landscape in which strategy and selectivity are central considerations for both firms and partners.
Within the 2025 Legal Partner Moves Report, Rutherford explores these themes in greater depth, supported by detailed market data and analysis across practice areas, hiring patterns and cross-border movement. The report is intended to provide meaningful context for firms assessing growth strategy, as well as for partners considering future career decisions within an increasingly competitive global legal market.
To obtain a copy of Rutherford’s Legal Partner Moves Report 2025, please contact Jago Verna, Partner & Head of Private Practice
