Nothing on this page is legal advice. Restrictive covenants, notice provisions and garden leave turn on their exact wording and on the law of the relevant jurisdiction, and enforceability varies. Take independent legal advice before acting on anything set out here.
For firms building a capability
Consulting Team Moves & Practice Acquisitions
A Partner hire can open a market. A functioning team can build one.
Partner-led team moves, practice builds and talent-led acquisition support. We identify the people, relationships and delivery capability behind a growth thesis — then test whether they can succeed on the receiving platform.
Partner & practice hires
A single anchor Partner, or the leadership layer of a practice you are building. Fastest route, and the one that defines everything that follows.
Team lift-outs
A Partner and the colleagues their commercial engine actually depends on. Viability, cohesion and covenants tested before anyone is approached.
Leadership & talent diligence
The people side of a transaction: who holds the relationships, who is a flight risk, and what retention design keeps the capability you paid for.
Start here
Which route are you considering?
Pick one and the rest of this section changes. The comparison bars are honest — a team move carries more execution risk than a Partner hire, and we would rather you knew that now than in month four.
One anchor Partner, and everything that follows them
The fastest route and the least reversible. The first hire into a new practice defines who joins next, which clients believe the proposition, and what the economics look like in three years. Get the anchor wrong and you spend those three years unpicking it.
Best when the firm already has the delivery platform, team and infrastructure to support a leader from day one. We map who could credibly found the practice — and what the market for that capability looks like — before you write the brief.
- Typical timeline
- 2–5 months to offer
- What decides it
- Portability of the book, not the title
- Where it fails
- No second tier to deliver what the Partner sells
- Most often
- AI & Digital · Sustainability · DACH market entry
A Partner and the colleagues their commercial engine depends on
Firms sometimes need leadership and delivery capability together rather than one appointment at a time. Where that is the objective we run parallel individual searches: every candidate approached, assessed and represented separately. What moves is capability, not a business — no contracts, assets or intellectual property transfer.
The risk almost never sits with the Partner. It sits with the second tier who actually deliver the work, and who may not be available or may not want to move. That is what we test first.
- Typical timeline
- 4–8 months end to end
- What decides it
- The second tier, every time
- Where it fails
- Covenants nobody read until month four
- Most often
- Operations · Restructuring · Tech Consulting
When the capability cannot be separated from the business
Sometimes the client contracts, methodology, brand, accreditations or delivery organisation are the asset, and no amount of hiring reproduces them. That is an acquisition, and the leadership question decides whether it works.
To be clear about our role: we are not corporate finance advisers and we do not originate, value or negotiate transactions. We work alongside your deal team on the people side — leadership and talent diligence before signing, retention design around the individuals the value actually depends on, and the leadership hires the combined business needs afterwards.
That is the part most deal teams under-resource, and it is usually what decides whether the capability you paid for is still there in year two.
- Typical timeline
- 9–18 months
- What decides it
- Retention design, not the multiple
- Where it fails
- Integration choice made after completion, not before
- Most often
- Big Four · PE-backed consultancies · post-merger
When an acquisition is on the table
Included by way of example, because Managing Partners raise it in the same conversation. Strat-Bridge does not originate, source or introduce acquisition opportunities, does not identify or approach potential buyers or targets, and takes no part in negotiating, structuring or valuing any transaction. We are instructed only where a client has already appointed its own corporate finance and legal advisers, and we work alongside them.
Where a consultancy changes hands, the acquirer inherits every partner, every client relationship and every unwritten understanding about how the equity works. The commercial model is usually settled long before anyone has asked which partners intend to stay.
Our contribution is narrow and entirely on the people side: who in the target actually holds the client relationships, who is a retention risk, and what the leadership structure needs to look like on day one. Our fees are retained or time-based. We charge no fee contingent on a transaction completing, and where a client needs transaction advice we refer them to an FCA-authorised corporate finance firm and take no payment for the referral.
- Typical timeline
- 12–24 months, deal-dependent
- What decides it
- Partner retention, and whether the equity story survives contact
- Where it fails
- Culture treated as a workstream rather than the point
- Our role
- Leadership and organisational diligence only — never the transaction
What actually needs to move
In a team move, six things have to travel.
This is the part of a team move that gets underestimated. Six capabilities, and they are not independent — hover or tab to any one to see what depends on it, and why lifting the person who sells without the people who deliver so often fails in year two.
The whole system
A team move only works when origination, delivery and followership travel together. A move that transfers only the first is not a move — it is a hire with a larger invoice attached.
Select a capability to see what depends on itHow it runs
Six stages, run as individual searches.
Each appointment is its own search. The stages below describe how we work through a capability build, not a coordinated departure.
Growth thesis
Map the real team
Test alignment
Commercial case
Defensible transition
Receiving platform
STEP 01
Define the growth thesis
What is the practice for, who buys from it, and what does it need to be worth in three years? Every later decision is measured against this, and the moves that fail almost always failed here first.
Output: a one-page thesis you can defend to your boardSTEP 02
Map the market and the real team
Org charts describe reporting lines, not commercial engines. We map the market for the capability you are building — who originates, who converts and who delivers it across the sector. We do not ask candidates for client lists, pipeline data, colleague contact details or remuneration information belonging to their employer, and we do not accept it if offered.
Output: the actual commercial unit, namedSTEP 03
Test alignment discreetly
Every conversation is individual and confidential. Each person is approached, assessed and represented separately, and decides for themselves on their own timetable. We do not coordinate departures.
Output: a go or no-go you can trustSTEP 04
Build the commercial case
Buy-in, guarantee, revenue credit, notice buy-out. The headline number is rarely the real number, and the gap between them is where most negotiations stall. We model conservatively rather than treating historic billings as portable.
Output: a modelled offer, not a headlineSTEP 05
Plan a defensible transition
We ask each candidate for their contractual terms at the outset and ask them to take independent legal advice from a solicitor of their own choosing before accepting any offer. We do not select, instruct or pay that adviser, and we do not advise on the enforceability of any covenant. Where a move could not proceed without a breach of a candidate’s obligations, we do not proceed on those terms.
Output: a transition plan that survives scrutinySTEP 06
Prepare the receiving platform
The team arrives on a Monday. Whether they can sell by Friday depends on decisions made months earlier — P&L structure, credit allocation, reporting lines, and whether the existing partners were consulted.
Output: a first ninety days that worksThe viability test
Is your move viable?
These are the same five questions we ask on a first call, in the same order. Answer them and you will get our read — including when the honest answer is a Partner hire rather than a team move.
Market pull
Is there demand for this capability in the target market right now?
Commercial transferability
Can the revenue actually follow, or does it sit with the incumbent brand?
Team cohesion
Would the second tier move, and would they still deliver on arrival?
Platform fit
Can the receiving firm actually support this practice commercially?
Transition feasibility
Do covenants, notice periods and client contracts permit a clean exit?
Live read
Answer the five to see a read
0 of 5 answered
This is a starting point for a conversation, not advice. Every situation turns on detail these five questions cannot capture.
Let’s test the thesis together.
Talk about moving your teamCommon questions
Team Moves FAQ
In market usage, a consulting team move describes a firm hiring a Partner and several colleagues from the same practice over a period. Unlike an acquisition, it does not transfer the existing employer, its contracts, assets or intellectual property. In practice we run these as parallel individual searches: every candidate is approached, assessed and represented separately and decides for themselves.
An acquisition may be more appropriate when the desired capability depends on contracts, brand, intellectual property, data, accreditations, infrastructure or a delivery organisation that cannot be recreated through individual hiring.
Team moves usually take several months. Timing depends on the number of people involved, notice periods, individual decision-making, contractual obligations, the hiring firm’s governance and the complexity of the transition.
No. Clients decide which firms they appoint, and contractual or regulatory constraints may apply. We model the commercial case conservatively rather than treating historic billings as automatically portable.
Whether a particular restriction is enforceable is a question of law turning on its precise wording and the individual’s role. Strat-Bridge does not advise on enforceability. We ask every candidate to take independent legal advice from a solicitor of their own choosing before accepting an offer, and we neither select, instruct nor pay that adviser. Where a move could not proceed without a breach, we do not proceed on those terms.
Every mandate begins with an agreed confidentiality protocol. Information is shared only with authorised participants on a need-to-know basis. No process can eliminate disclosure risk entirely, which is why access and communication are tightly controlled.
Team moves and acquisition-related projects are handled on a retained basis. The structure reflects the scope, the jurisdictions involved, the size of the team and the confidentiality the work requires.
Which route fits your growth thesis?
Thirty minutes, free, no obligation. If the answer is a single Partner hire rather than a team move, we will say so — that conversation is worth having either way.
A general guide, not advice on your situation
Every move turns on detail this page cannot capture — the individuals involved, the contracts they are under, the jurisdictions in play and the commercial position of both firms. The timelines, comparisons and the viability questions above are general guidance only. They are not a prediction about your situation, they do not account for the nuance and intricacy that every move carries, and none of it is legal advice. Please treat it as a general guide and take proper advice on the specifics.
How we work. We run individual, confidential searches. Every candidate is approached, assessed and represented separately and decides for themselves on their own timetable. We do not coordinate departures and take no part in the timing of any individual’s resignation or notice. We do not ask any candidate for client lists, pipeline information, colleague contact details or remuneration data belonging to their current employer, and we will not accept it if offered.
Contractual obligations. Whether a particular restriction is enforceable is a question of law turning on its precise wording and the individual’s role. Strat-Bridge does not advise on the enforceability of any covenant. We ask every candidate to take independent legal advice from a solicitor of their own choosing before accepting an offer, and we do not select, instruct or pay that adviser. Where a move could not proceed without a breach of a candidate’s existing obligations, we do not proceed on those terms.
Acquisitions. Strat-Bridge does not originate, source or introduce acquisition opportunities, does not identify or approach potential buyers or targets, and takes no part in negotiating, structuring or valuing any transaction. We are instructed only where the client has already appointed its own corporate finance and legal advisers. Our fees are retained or time-based and we charge no fee contingent on a transaction completing. Where a client needs transaction advice we refer them to an FCA-authorised firm and receive no payment for the referral.
Candidates. Our services are free of charge to candidates. We never charge a work-seeker a fee and we do not require any candidate to buy or use any other service as a condition of working with us. Everything a candidate tells us is treated as confidential and is not disclosed to any client or third party without their prior consent.
StratBridge Ltd (trading as Strat-Bridge), registered in England & Wales, company number 13734497, is an employment agency for the purposes of the Employment Agencies Act 1973 and the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003.
