Haley Voll
Founder & Partner
Legal Recruiting · Washington
The Washington lateral market, in the numbers firms publish.
We track every opening Washington 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 Washington firms are hiring for today
Openings posted publicly by law firms with Washington offices (July 2026). Postings only show you the visible market; many searches, especially at partner level, never get posted at all.
473
Open law-firm postings
189
Attorney roles (associate)
142
Litigation openings
IP demand outruns corporate, a tech-market signature. Washington hires like the technology hub it is: intellectual property openings beat corporate ones outright, and litigation leads overall. Relative to the size of its bar, Washington is one of the busier hiring markets on the West Coast right now.
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
142 openings
Corporate / transactional
63 openings
Intellectual property
75 openings
Source: Voll Recruiting analysis of publicly posted law-firm openings, July 2026.
Published pay
What Washington 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trademark associate | Stoel Rives · Seattle (multi-office) | 3 to 6 years | $193,000 – $295,000 |
| Intellectual property associate (technology) | Morgan Lewis · Seattle (multi-office) | 3 to 4 years | $150,000 – $230,000 |
Source: Salary ranges published in public law-firm job listings, July 2026.
The part postings can't show you
The best Washington 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 Washington attorney we work with, confidentially, before anything is sent anywhere.
Get a confidential market readThe desk
Recruiters who work this market every day
One conversation tells you what your options in Washington are actually worth.
Practicing in Washington?
Even if the timing isn't now, a confidential conversation tells you what your options are worth. No pressure, no spam. Just market intel.