From Client Ecosystems to Paying ‘Breakage,’ These Lateral Strategies Could Define 2026
Lateral hiring has become a 365-day competitive imperative, and the firms embracing that reality are pulling decisively ahead. Jeffrey Lowe, CenterPeak's Market President for Washington D.C., marks the shift plainly: "What has gone from a somewhat cyclical business has turned into a year-round business." Where hiring seasons once clustered around the new year or post-Labor Day, partners are now moving continuously and firms are more than willing to absorb the financial breakage of a mid-year move to land the right talent. As elite firms sharpen their lateral strategies around client ecosystems, shared relationships, and pure talent acquisition, the firms positioned to win are those that remain fluid, opportunistic, and unwilling to let a budget line dictate when a transformational hire gets made.
