Law360, New York (April 4, 2017, 6:52 PM EDT) -- The surveys that report lateral partner hiring as more or less a 50-50 proposition keep being published, and yet the lateral partner market is as robust as ever. So, what are firms looking at to measure their success and justify the level of investment they continue to make in the lateral market? It can't be just in the numbers. Betting when the odds are 50-50 might suit some if it were just their own money on the line, but there is a partnership to answer to. Lateral partner recruitment, unfortunately, is not baseball, where a .500 batting average is so spectacular that it is virtually impossible to achieve. And where even a .400 batting average is considered super human and rarely sustainable through an entire season, much less a career. If only lateral partner hiring were that simple....