City monitor · November 2026
Charlotte: lateral market monitor
Lawyers who joined a new firm in Charlotte 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
- 135
- Lateral moves, 12 monthsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- +30.9%
- Year on yearSettled 12-month windows
- 18.5%
- Partner share of moves
- 43
- Firms that hired
What the data show
Sartori & Partners data show 135 lateral moves in Charlotte from November 2025 to October 2026, 1.0% of all lateral moves we tracked. On settled windows the count went from 110 to 144, up 30.9% year on year. It outpaced the market's own change of +9.0%.
The partner share is 18.5%, below the market's 27.7%, so most movers are associates and counsel. On settled windows partner moves alone went from 25 to 25 (0.0%), which we read as flat. 15.6% of movers stepped up a level when they changed firm, against 12.9% for the market.
- Partner18.5%
- Counsel14.8%
- Associate66.7%
Lateral hires in Charlotte were spread across 43 firms. Ten firms account for 54.5% of arrivals, against 12.9% across the market: concentrated. First on the hiring table is Moore & Van Allen, with arrivals in the 11-20 band.
Banking & Finance ranks first among practices, involved in 45.9% of the city's arrivals against 13.9% of the whole market. A change of city came with 30.9% of moves (market 20.5%).
A rising, associate-led flow in Charlotte favors firms that build teams from below; a partner search here needs a longer runway.
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 | Moore & Van Allen | 11-20 |
| 2 | Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein | 11-20 |
| 3 | Paul Hastings | 6-10 |
| 4 | Hogan Lovells Cadwalader | 6-10 |
| 5 | Womble Bond Dickinson | 3-5 |
| 6 | Sidley Austin | 3-5 |
| 7 | Akerman | 3-5 |
| 8 | Proskauer Rose | 3-5 |
| 9 | Troutman Pepper Locke | 3-5 |
| 10 | Haynes and Boone | 3-5 |
| Rank | Firm | Moves (band) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Proskauer Rose | 6-10 |
| 2 | Troutman Pepper Locke | 3-5 |
| 3 | Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz | 3-5 |
| 4 | Akerman | 3-5 |
| 5 | Moore & Van Allen | 3-5 |
| 6 | Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough | 3-5 |
| 7 | Paul Hastings | 3-5 |
| 8 | Bowman and Brooke | 3-5 |
| 9 | Bradley Arant Boult Cummings | 3-5 |
| 10 | Womble Bond Dickinson | 3-5 |
Related monitors and reports
Practices in Charlotte
- Banking & Finance62 moves
- Litigation & Disputes35 moves
- Real Estate21 moves
Other cities
- New York
- London
- Washington, DC
- Los Angeles
- Chicago
- San Francisco
- Boston
- Dallas
- Houston
- Miami
- Philadelphia
- Paris
- Atlanta
- Denver
- Seattle
- Toronto
- San Diego
- Brussels
- Manchester
- Nashville
- Sydney
- Dubai
- Hong Kong
- Austin
- Minneapolis
- Frankfurt
- Milan
- Amsterdam
- Tampa
- Singapore
- Montreal
- Cleveland
- Munich
- Bristol
- Pittsburgh
- Raleigh
- Leeds
- Detroit
- Phoenix
- Portland
- St. Louis
- Orlando
- Calgary
- Warsaw
- Columbus
Hiring in this market
Reports
- Charlotte Associate Market 2026: Associates Make 66.7% of Moves
Associates make up about two in three lateral moves into Charlotte law firms, 66.7% against 58.5% in the market, the highest share of any city with a larger volume. Charlotte's hiring grew 3.4 times as fast as the market's.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Charlotte Lateral Partner Market 2026: Banking First, Partners Flat
Charlotte hires lawyers for its banks first: banking and finance runs at an index of 329 against the market. Partners are a thinner slice of that hiring than elsewhere, at 18.5% of moves against 27.7%, and partner hiring held flat (+0.0%).
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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