Public Law Work for Individuals in 2026: Washington Ahead of New York

A general counsel weighing public law firms in Washington DC against New York teams, for a matter that touches individuals or consumers, should start from where that work is handled today. Sartori & Partners data show that 26.1% of the sector's 658 deals in the 12 months to October 2026 were handled with lawyers in Washington, DC, against 20.3% with lawyers in New York. Government and public sector work runs the opposite way: 24.9% of that sector's deals were handled with New York lawyers and 17.8% with Washington lawyers. Public law lawyers sit on 18.7% of individuals and consumers deals. The city shares cover every deal in the sector, not only those with public law lawyers on them, because no city split is published for that pairing alone. Still, the order of the two cities is clear, and it is the reverse of the order a company sees on its government work.

In the Sartori & Partners deal record, Washington sits 5.8 points ahead of New York on individuals and consumers deals, and New York sits 7.1 points ahead of Washington on government and public sector deals. Washington's share of individual and consumer work is 8.3 points higher than its share of government work. London shows the split in a sharper form: 16.0% of government deals were handled with London lawyers, against 6.8% of individual and consumer deals. Seattle stands out on the individuals list at 7.4% of the sector's deals, ahead of London and of Los Angeles at 5.8%. One deal can count in several cities, so these shares describe where the work is done, not where lawyers are counted, and they are never added. Lateral hiring points the same way for the practice: 26.0% of public law lawyers who changed firms in 12 months joined in Washington, DC, an index of 464 against the whole market, whose own share is the base of that index. A company that reaches for its New York government or finance counsel by habit may be starting its search in the second city for this sector, not the first.

Seen from the practice side, individuals and consumers were 14.5% of public law and government deals, 123 of 850 in 12 months. Only government and public sector work carried a higher share, at 21.5%; nonprofits and charities followed at 9.9% and education at 7.4%. Seen from the sector side, public law lawyers worked on 18.7% of individuals and consumers deals, against 1.8% of all dated deals, or 10.4 times their weight across the deal market. The two shares rest on the same deals and differ only because the practice and the sector have different totals. Other practices sit on the same matters: product liability lawyers on 21.3% of the sector's deals and white collar lawyers on 7.1%. One deal can carry several practices and some carry none, so these shares overlap and are never summed. For a company, the practical reading is that public law partners on individual and consumer matters also carry government, charity and education work, so ask how much of the team's recent calendar sat in this sector.

By deal label, disputes and investigations were 91.2% of individuals and consumers deals in 12 months. The same label covered 80.6% of public law deals in every sector, 44.6% of government and public sector deals and 25.0% of all dated deals. Government work mixes contested matters with capital markets deals at 27.2%; individual and consumer work is contested almost from end to end, and the public law practice as a whole leans the same way. The counts include disputes taken from public court records, so they measure matters on record, not fees and not the size of any mandate. This matters for staffing more than for price. A public law team on a matter involving individuals or consumers is a litigation team first: ask who argues in court, who runs document review, and whether the Washington partners have trial lawyers in the same office or borrow them from elsewhere.

Each of these readings stands on its own two counts. Individuals and consumers deals rose 15.8%, from 584 in the earlier 12-month window to 676 in the latest settled one. Public law deals across every sector rose 8.8%, from 796 to 866. Government and public sector deals held flat (+5.1%), at 852 against 811, and all dated deals rose 10.6%, from 43,590 to 48,216. No trend is published for public law deals in this sector alone, so these figures cannot say how that slice moved on its own. On the hiring side, public law lateral moves, meaning lawyers changing firms, held flat (-4.9%), at 308 against 324. Lateral partner moves in the practice were unchanged, at 104 in the latest settled window against 105 the year before. A sector with more matters on record, next to a lateral market for the practice that held steady, means more companies asking for the time of the same partners. Agree staffing, response times and who covers the partner's absences before the matter reaches its busy phase.

The two firm lists below answer different questions. The individuals and consumers list ranks firms on all the sector's work, in every practice. The public law list ranks firms on that practice's work, in every sector. Counted name by name, three firms appear on both: Leigh Day, Jones Day and Duncan Lewis Solicitors. Irwin Mitchell and Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro head the sector list in the 21-40 band of deals advised, and Morrison & Foerster and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher head the public law list in the 21-40 band. Each firm appears as a rank and a range of deals, never an exact count, so ranks inside one band do not measure the distance between firms. A firm missing from either list may still do this work; the lists only show who handled the most matters on record. For a first conversation on a public law question involving individuals or consumers, the three firms on both lists are a short starting point; for a wider matter, use the list that fits it, and ask each firm which of its offices handled the work.

Start the search in Washington. 26.1% of the sector's deals were handled with lawyers there, and the city also took 26.0% of public law lateral arrivals, so that is where the practice's people and this sector's work meet. Do not assume the New York team that serves your government or finance matters is the right fit: on government deals New York comes first, on individual and consumer deals it comes second. Keep Seattle on the list for West Coast exposure, at 7.4% of the sector's deals. Treat the work as litigation, since disputes were 91.2% of these deals, and test trial capacity in the office that will run the matter. Expect competition for partner time: the sector rose 15.8% while public law deals rose 8.8%. Sartori & Partners builds these figures from public law-firm announcements, firm websites and professional profiles, checked monthly.