Warsaw Partner Market 2026: A Sharp Drop, Nearly All at Big Firms

A firm leader deciding whether to hire in Warsaw, or to open there, faces a market that contracted in the same year the wider market expanded. Sartori & Partners data show Warsaw lateral hiring fell 43.6% between the two settled 12-month windows, from 94 moves to 53, while moves across all cities rose 9.0%. The Warsaw law firm partner market has two further traits that set it apart: almost every move lands at a firm of 1,000+ lawyers, and partners make up a small share of who moves. This report measures Warsaw against the whole market, against London as the largest European city in these figures, and against Paris.

Warsaw is a small market that had an unusually busy year and then gave most of it back. Its lateral moves fell 43.6% on the settled windows, the sharpest drop among the cities compared here. Across all cities, lateral moves rose 9.0%, from 13,128 to 14,305. London lateral hiring held flat (-2.5%), with 1,353 moves against 1,387. Paris lateral hiring fell 20.5%, so the European picture is mixed, but the Warsaw decline is 23.1 points deeper than the one in Paris.

The yearly series puts the fall in proportion. Warsaw recorded 40 lateral moves in 2023 and 54 in 2024, then 90 in 2025, the peak of the series. By October 2026 the count stood at 47. Much of the earlier window's height sits in one month: May 2025 alone carried 35 moves, 37.2% of the 94 in the prior window. The drop is real, yet it looks more like a return to the city's usual pace after a spike, not as a market in retreat. Warsaw holds 0.4% of lateral moves across the market and ranks 45th among cities. For a hiring plan, that means a small and uneven flow: one busy month can swing a year, and a search should not be timed on last year's volume.

Firm size is where Warsaw departs furthest from every comparison. Firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 94.4% of Warsaw lateral moves in the past 12 months, against 68.5% in London, 86.4% in Paris and 53.6% across the market. The three-year figure confirms it is a structural trait, not one year's mix: 94.2% for Warsaw, against 52.5% market-wide.

The supply side looks the same. Over three years, 93.2% of Warsaw arrivals had left a firm of 1,000+ lawyers, against 56.6% across the market. Lawyers in Warsaw move between the large international offices far more than they move into or out of them. Firms of 400-999 lawyers took 4.2% of three-year arrivals, against 26.3% in London. For a mid-sized firm, this cuts both ways: there is little direct competition from peers of its size, but every candidate it approaches sits in a large firm and will compare its offer with one.

Warsaw moves associates far more than it moves partners. In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, partners were 12.8% of the city's 195 lateral arrivals over three years, against 26.9% across the market and 27.7% in London. That is 25 partner hires in three years, too few to publish a partner trend for the city. The 12-month reading tells the same story, with partners at 12.7% of Warsaw moves.

Associates were 70.8% of three-year arrivals and counsel 15.9%, both above the market shares of 59.2% and 12.1%. Paris, with partners at 20.3% over three years, sits between Warsaw and London. Only 7.7% of Warsaw movers over three years joined at a higher title, against 12.3% across the market, so few Warsaw movers step up a title when they change firm. A firm that needs a Warsaw partner is shopping in a very short list, and should expect each candidate to be known to every large office in town.

The practice mix explains why the large firms dominate. Over three years, corporate and M&A appeared on 24.6% of Warsaw moves and banking and finance on 24.1%, against 13.4% for banking across the market. Projects and infrastructure stands out most: 19.5% of Warsaw moves, against 3.9% market-wide and 6.1% in London. Litigation and disputes, the largest practice across the market at 41.0%, appeared on only 15.9% of Warsaw moves.

Each move can carry more than one practice, so these shares overlap. Real estate, at 17.4% of Warsaw moves against 10.4% across the market, completes a profile built on cross-border transactions and financed assets. A firm adding a Warsaw partner in finance or infrastructure competes where the city's demand is deepest; a disputes partner would come from a much thinner flow.

Only 26 firms made a lateral hire in Warsaw over three years, against 83 in Paris and 229 in London. The top 10 hirers took 73.8% of Warsaw's individual lateral hires over three years, against 21.4% in London and 12.2% for the market's top 10. Sartori & Partners figures count individual hires here, so this is a share of all levels, not of partners.

Greenberg Traurig heads the three-year list, and in the past 12 months Pinsent Masons hired more lawyers in Warsaw than any other firm. The movers are also local: 60.0% of three-year arrivals had left a job in Warsaw, and just 8.6% changed city, against 21.6% across the market. A newcomer competes with repeat buyers that already know the same candidates.

Treat the fall as a reset, not an opening. The 53 moves in the latest settled window sit close to the city's yearly counts before 2025, so the market is not short of work; it is back to its normal size after a spike.

Plan on a partner search that takes time. With partners at 12.8% of a small flow over three years, a firm cannot count on finding the right partner already in motion. Approach partners directly, and be ready to match the platform of a firm of 1,000+ lawyers, since that is where 93.2% of the city's movers came from.

For an office opening, weigh Warsaw against London as well as the market. London lateral hiring held flat (-2.5%), with partners at 27.7% of three-year arrivals and a wider spread of firm sizes. Warsaw suits a firm with an existing finance, projects or corporate platform that can bring its own brand into a market of large offices; a firm seeking a broad disputes bench will find little to hire.