The Carolinas, with their business-friendly environments, are attractive to newcomer businesses, making the states a fertile ground for law firm growth.

Jim Lehman, managing partner with Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, a Columbia-based firm that has seven offices in the Carolinas, said the two states are attractive to firms for a number of reasons.

"I think you're seeing increasing population growth in the Carolinas and that will create the need for more sophisticated legal practices and will continue to be a draw for lawyers," said Lehman, who has practiced law in the Carolinas for more than 25 years. "However, the short-term trend is the remote work where law firms are hiring lawyers in the Carolinas regardless of where their location is. As long as the legal industry continues at the high demand that we've seen over the last year, I think that trend will continue. When the economy starts to turn, I think some of that will change."