City monitor · November 2026
Raleigh: lateral market monitor
Lawyers who joined a new firm in Raleigh 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
- +80.0%
- Year on yearSettled 12-month windows
- 18.9%
- Partner share of moves
- 31
- Firms that hired
What the data show
In the Sartori & Partners lateral record, 74 lawyers joined a new firm in Raleigh from November 2025 to October 2026, 0.5% of all lateral moves we tracked. On settled windows the count went from 40 to 72, up 80.0% year on year. That runs ahead of the wider market, which moved +9.0%.
The partner share is 18.9%, below the market's 27.7%, so most movers are associates and counsel. 17.6% of movers stepped up a level when they changed firm, against 12.9% for the market.
- Partner18.9%
- Counsel17.6%
- Associate63.5%
Lateral hires in Raleigh were spread across 31 firms. The ten firms at the head of the hiring table took 60.8% of arrivals (12.9% market-wide), so hiring here is concentrated. First on the hiring table is Smith Anderson Blount Dorsett Mitchell & Jernigan, with arrivals in the 11-20 band.
Litigation & Disputes ranks first among practices, involved in 50.0% of the city's arrivals against 39.9% of the whole market. A change of city came with 32.2% of moves (market 20.5%).
A rising, associate-led flow in Raleigh 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 | Smith Anderson Blount Dorsett Mitchell & Jernigan | 11-20 |
| 2 | Barnes & Thornburg | 6-10 |
| 3 | Womble Bond Dickinson | 3-5 |
| 4 | Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein | 3-5 |
| 5 | Ogletree Deakins | 3-5 |
| 6 | Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz | 3-5 |
| 7 | Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani | 3-5 |
| Rank | Firm | Moves (band) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz | 6-10 |
| 2 | Barnes & Thornburg | 3-5 |
| 3 | Maynard Nexsen | 3-5 |
Related monitors and reports
Practices in Raleigh
- Litigation & Disputes37 moves
Other cities
- New York
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- Washington, DC
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- Montreal
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- Bristol
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Hiring in this market
Reports
- Raleigh Lateral Partner Market 2026: Volume Up, Partner Share Thin
Raleigh firms hired lateral lawyers at a pace that left the market and Charlotte behind, a rise of 80.0% year on year. Partners were not the engine: they made up 18.2% of Raleigh moves over three years against 26.9% across the market, and firms under 150 lawyers took 2.0 times their market share of hires.
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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