Haley Voll
Founder & Partner
Legal Recruiting · Virginia
The Virginia lateral market, in the numbers firms publish.
We track every opening Virginia law firms post publicly, and the salary ranges they publish with them. Here is what the market looks like right now, and what it means if you are weighing a move.
Open demand
What Virginia firms are hiring for today
Openings posted publicly by law firms with Virginia offices (July 2026). Postings only show you the visible market; many searches, especially at partner level, never get posted at all.
303
Open law-firm postings
108
Attorney roles (associate)
82
Litigation openings
Northern Virginia is a patent economy. Virginia's posted mix is unlike its Southern neighbors: corporate and intellectual property together nearly match litigation, driven by the patent boutiques and government contractors clustered near the USPTO in Northern Virginia.
Source: Voll Recruiting analysis of publicly posted law-firm openings, July 2026.
Practice areas
Where the demand concentrates
Posted openings by practice area. If your practice sits in a deep column, you have options; if it sits in a thin one, timing and positioning matter more, and that is exactly the situation a recruiter earns their keep in.
Litigation
82 openings
Corporate / transactional
45 openings
Intellectual property
43 openings
Source: Voll Recruiting analysis of publicly posted law-firm openings, July 2026.
Published pay
What Virginia postings are offering
Salary ranges taken directly from current public postings. Ranges like these are the floor of a negotiation, not the ceiling; knowing where a specific firm actually lands is the part we do for a living.
| Role | Firm · location | Experience | Posted range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patent associate | Birch Stewart Kolasch & Birch · Vienna | 1 to 3 years | $160,000 – $180,000 |
Source: Salary ranges published in public law-firm job listings, July 2026.
The part postings can't show you
The best Virginia moves are rarely the posted ones.
A posting tells you a seat exists. It does not tell you which groups are quietly building, which firms flex on class year, or where your book and background put you at the front of the line. That is the read we give every Virginia attorney we work with, confidentially, before anything is sent anywhere.
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