City monitor · November 2026
Phoenix: lateral market monitor
Lawyers who joined a new firm in Phoenix 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
- 61
- Lateral moves, 12 monthsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- -15.6%
- Year on yearSettled 12-month windows
- 34.4%
- Partner share of moves
- 29
- Firms that hired
What the data show
In the Sartori & Partners lateral record, 61 lawyers joined a new firm in Phoenix from November 2025 to October 2026, 0.4% of all lateral moves we tracked. On settled windows the count went from 77 to 65 (-15.6%), a change inside the noise of the two counts, so we read it as flat.
Partners make up 34.4% of arrivals, against 27.7% across the market: a partner-heavy flow. Year on year partner moves alone held level (22 to 22 on settled windows, 0.0%). 13.1% of movers stepped up a level when they changed firm, against 12.9% for the market.
- Partner34.4%
- Counsel13.1%
- Associate52.5%
29 firms hired at least one lateral in Phoenix in the window. Ten firms account for 62.7% of arrivals, against 12.9% across the market: concentrated. Fennemore Craig ranks first by lateral arrivals, in the 6-10 band.
By practice, Litigation & Disputes comes first, involved in 57.4% of arrivals here (39.9% across the market). A change of city came with 36.2% of moves (market 20.5%).
For a firm planning a hire in Phoenix, a flat market means candidates are not being pulled by a wave: the case for a move has to come from the platform.
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 | Fennemore Craig | 6-10 |
| 2 | Clark Hill | 3-5 |
| 3 | Polsinelli | 3-5 |
| 4 | Taft Stettinius & Hollister | 3-5 |
| 5 | Snell & Wilmer | 3-5 |
| 6 | Stinson | 3-5 |
| 7 | Dorsey & Whitney | 3-5 |
| 8 | Clyde & Co | 3-5 |
| Rank | Firm | Moves (band) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dorsey & Whitney | 6-10 |
| 2 | Clark Hill | 6-10 |
| 3 | Taft Stettinius & Hollister | 6-10 |
| 4 | Spencer Fane | 3-5 |
| 5 | Holland & Hart | 3-5 |
| 6 | Greenberg Traurig | 3-5 |
Related monitors and reports
Practices in Phoenix
- Litigation & Disputes35 moves
Other cities
- New York
- London
- Washington, DC
- Los Angeles
- Chicago
- San Francisco
- Boston
- Dallas
- Houston
- Miami
- Philadelphia
- Paris
- Atlanta
- Denver
- Seattle
- Toronto
- Charlotte
- San Diego
- Brussels
- Manchester
- Nashville
- Sydney
- Dubai
- Hong Kong
- Austin
- Minneapolis
- Frankfurt
- Milan
- Amsterdam
- Tampa
- Singapore
- Montreal
- Cleveland
- Munich
- Bristol
- Pittsburgh
- Raleigh
- Leeds
- Detroit
- Portland
- St. Louis
- Orlando
- Calgary
- Warsaw
- Columbus
Hiring in this market
Reports
- Phoenix Lateral Partner Market 2026: Litigation Runs Above Denver
Litigation is involved in 57.4% of lateral moves into Phoenix firms, an index of 144 against 136 in Denver, and in 62.6% over three years. Partner moves held steady at 22 against 22 while market partner hiring rose 8.4%, and partners are 34.4% of Phoenix hires against 27.7% across the market.
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].
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