An overheated lateral market resulted in firms paying hefty financial incentives and recruiting and referral fees to attract talent, leading them to contemplate new ways to source and recruit candidates.

At the entry-level, firms identified condensed recruitment schedules, limited candidate pools, an overreliance on GPA and law school rankings, and accelerated interview processes as obstacles to improving their ability to identify, evaluate, and engage with potential hires.

Recruiting teams are increasingly looking to internal referrals, direct outreach, and underutilized technology platforms as ways to close the gaps in lateral hiring.

Firms continue to strive for diversity and inclusion, engaging in many of the same programs and initiatives yet not realizing the progress they'd hoped for. This is especially apparent with laterals due to a smaller candidate pool and hiring aimed to address an acute need.

The use of assessments has become commonplace at the entry-level as firms look to uncover new ways to reliably and objectively recruit students. Interest in incorporating assessments into the lateral process has increased as firms acknowledge the deficiencies in their current practices and the high cost of mistakes.

The hyper-competitive marketplace has illuminated the need for innovation. Firm leaders are specifically considering using assessments as additional tools to assist in uncovering valuable candidate information.