Your new lateral partner will only ever be as good as the environment you build around them. Firms spend millions of dollars every year on an attorney's potential, unique expertise, or the rolodex that comes with them. Yet the retention rate of these lateral hires continues to fall, and even when they stay, they often underperform. 

Last year, I attended an an annual partner retreat at an AM Law 100 Firm, where their CMO explained to me that a recent lateral hire wasn't exactly the “big hitter” they were expecting in terms of new business. This isn't a new issue in BigLaw, but it almost always starts with a visibility gap. It's rarely the case that an attorney lacks knowledge or billing potential. What they lack is an outlet for natural growth.

At Passle's 2026 CMO Series Live event, several CMOs admitted they lacked a formal lateral integration program, relying instead on infrequent check-ins and word-of-mouth to measure success. An attorney's networks only take them as far as their internal support, and marketing and business development teams need a tangible way to track performance over time, as well as the colleagues they're collaborating with. 

In the extremely competitive, trillion-dollar legal industry, firms can no longer rely on basic marketing techniques for new business. If I've learned anything from talking to lawyers, it's that most new business comes from preexisting clients with different legal matters. Attorney's need to tap into their firms existing client network, and the most effective way to do this is by increasing internal communication and awareness. 

The bottom line: your attorneys must not only know each other, but each other's service offerings. 

Too many firms leave opportunities on the table by failing to execute on lateral integration. To reverse this trajectory and save your firm millions, teams must:

• Create formal 30/60/90 integration goals and benchmarks
• Build recurring internal comms highlighting case updates, legal news, and team members
• Actively encourage cross-practice collaboration through thought leadership and firm events