Financial incentives for attorneys who secure the employment of a former colleague for their current firm have come back into vogue in 2021 as firms seek a cost-effective method of onboarding laterals with preexisting work relationships.

Philadelphia-based Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads plans to start financially rewarding lateral attorneys who help to bring on other lawyers from their previous firms. “If an existing employee has a friend at another firm and the existing employee convinces that friend to come over to our firm, they get a ‘referral bonus,’” managing partner Steven Pachman explained.