Big‐Firm Mergers & the Recruiting Race

This year, the legal industry is moving into a new era of consolidation. 
Law‑firm mergers jumped 18% last year, with 59 deals completed in 2025 . 
16 more combinations are already on the books for 2026, and consultants say the drivers are clear: firms want scale to spread the rising costs of top talent and artificial‑intelligence investments . 

One headline example is Hogan Lovells and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft’s plan to merge into a 3,100‑lawyer firm with roughly $3.6 billion in annual revenue.

Bigger platforms can afford to recruit aggressively.  Fairfax Associates notes that investments in talent and other technologies “are much easier to make when you have a larger revenue base”. Kent Zimmermann of law‑firm consultancy Zeughauser Group puts it more bluntly: larger, more profitable firms have a talent advantage because they can be flexible with compensation in an increasingly competitive lateral market.

That should resonate with any firm thinking about its own hiring practices.  When multi‑billion‑dollar practices are pooling resources to attract top performers, it underscores how integral the who is to long‑term success. 

Playing recruitment games—settling for quick fixes or cutting corners—will be costly in an era where talent is the differentiator. 

A robust, thoughtful hiring process not only safeguards your practice but also becomes a competitive advantage. 

Staffwell’s paralegal recruiting expertise and structured hiring workflow were built with this market dynamic in mind. 

On Thursday, we are sharing a one‑page scorecard that our recruiters use to evaluate paralegal candidates objectively.

Stay tuned,
Jessica Santino | Staffwell | (929) 560-0868

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