In these slow-to-no-growth times of sluggish demand for legal services, AmLaw 200 firms pin their hopes on lateral partners to boost revenue and increase market share.

But is lateral hiring helpful or detrimental in the long term? That is the question two law professors who study Big Law raise in a thought-provoking piece, “Is Reliance on Lateral Hiring Destabilizing Firms?” It appears in The American Lawyer’s annual lateral hiring report.