City monitor · November 2026
Bristol: lateral market monitor
Lawyers who joined a new firm in Bristol over the last 12 months: how many, at what level, in which practices and with which firms.
The last 12 months: November 2025 to October 2026
- 74
- Lateral moves, 12 monthsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- +38.2%
- Year on yearSettled 12-month windows
- 20.3%
- Partner share of moves
What the data show
Sartori & Partners data show 74 lateral moves in Bristol from November 2025 to October 2026, 0.5% of all lateral moves we tracked. Measured on settled 12-month windows, 76 moves against 55 the year before, the count rose 38.2%. That runs ahead of the wider market, which moved +9.0%.
At 20.3%, partners are a smaller slice of arrivals than in the market as a whole (27.7%). A step up in title came with 14.9% of moves (market 12.9%).
- Partner20.3%
- Counsel9.5%
- Associate68.9%
Ten firms account for 86.5% of arrivals, against 12.9% across the market: concentrated. First on the hiring table is Birketts, with arrivals in the 11-20 band.
By practice, Litigation & Disputes comes first, involved in 44.6% of arrivals here (39.9% across the market). A change of city came with 43.1% of moves (market 20.5%).
For a firm building a team in Bristol, associate supply is active; the partner hire is the scarcer piece and the one to start first.
Firms by rank and band
Each firm appears as a rank and a band, never an exact count, and only with at least 10 moves in the window.
| Rank | Firm | Moves (band) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birketts | 11-20 |
| 2 | Burges Salmon | 6-10 |
| 3 | DAC Beachcroft | 6-10 |
| 4 | Kennedys Law | 6-10 |
| 5 | Reynolds Porter Chamberlain | 3-5 |
| 6 | Osborne Clarke | 3-5 |
| 7 | Freeths | 3-5 |
| 8 | DWF | 3-5 |
| 9 | TLT | 3-5 |
| Rank | Firm | Moves (band) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birketts | 6-10 |
| 2 | DAC Beachcroft | 6-10 |
| 3 | Reynolds Porter Chamberlain | 3-5 |
Related monitors and reports
Practices in Bristol
- Litigation & Disputes33 moves
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Hiring in this market
Reports
- Bristol Lateral Partner Market 2026: London Feeds a Rising City
Bristol firms fill their benches with lawyers from other cities, London first: 43.1% of 12-month movers into the city also changed city, against 20.5% across the market. Lateral moves into Bristol rose 38.2% on the prior settled year.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026
Edition November 2026. Window: November 2025 to October 2026. Source: Sartori & Partners, from public law-firm announcements, firm websites and professional profiles, checked monthly. Methodology. Spot an error? [email protected].
For law firm leaders
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