San Francisco: lateral market monitor

From November 2025 to October 2026, Sartori & Partners recorded 453 lateral moves in San Francisco, 3.2% of all lateral moves we tracked. On settled windows the count went from 355 to 462, up 30.1% year on year. It outpaced the market's own change of +9.0%.

Partners account for 24.9% of movers, near the market's 27.7%. On settled windows partner moves alone went from 106 to 115 (+8.5%), a change inside the noise of the two counts, so we read it as flat. A step up in title came with 14.1% of moves (market 12.9%).

Lateral hires in San Francisco were spread across 149 firms. The ten firms at the head of the hiring table took 24.7% of arrivals (12.9% market-wide), so hiring here is moderately concentrated. Cooley ranks first by lateral arrivals, in the 11-20 band.

Litigation & Disputes ranks first among practices, involved in 49.9% of the city's arrivals against 39.9% of the whole market. More lawyers left San Francisco for another city (71) than moved in from one (57). 15.0% of movers also changed city, against 20.5% market-wide.

Group moves were 2.4% of the total (market 1.5%). Over the last 6 months, 52 lawyers left for an in-house role: 22.7 for every 100 lateral moves, against 13.1 market-wide.

Volume in San Francisco is rising with a mix close to the market, so timing matters more than the level you hire at.