Hi folks, need your help please!
When Law Firms talk about "lateral hire", what exactly does that mean? I know it has to do with some sort of high level hiring (eg. when Partners are "poached" from other Firms) but I would be grateful if anyone could tell me what the term means literally.
Thanks in advance!

I always thought lateral hire was something naughty...

james i have pm-ed you.

Many thanks rendezvous

Lateral means belonging to the side in Latin. Thus a lateral hire is someone hired "from the side", meaning at the same experience and wage level as their previous job.

In the context of law firms, lateral hire usually refers to a lawyer with several years of experience who takes on a similar position at a new law firm.

At my firm (in the US) it's even simpler - a "lateral" hire is simply someone who joined our firm from another firm.

I'm not a native speaker, so I just posted what I found on the web. I guess transplant's explanation is better than mine.

I'm not a native speaker either, but in my country (Brazil) we use the exact same term (literally translated) to mean what Transplant said.

Didn't mean to imply your definition was incorrect - merely that it might differ by context/location - which is why I specified US. Either way!