Tech Company Finance Counsel in 2026: Clients Come Back Less Often

A finance chief or general counsel shortlisting finance lawyers for tech companies should start with a fact about clients, not about firms. Sartori & Partners data show 3,279 technology and software deals in the 12 months to October 2026, for 1,713 distinct clients: about 1.9 deals per client. The banking and finance practice recorded 3,053 deals for 1,345 clients, or 2.3 each. A technology company, on average, returns to the deal market less often than the practice's typical client, and finance lawyers worked on 3.8% of technology deals. That decides how much a firm has seen of companies like yours, and what you should test in a pitch.

The fair comparison is sector against sector, measured the same way. Each sector ratio here divides the sector's deals by its distinct clients and covers all its deals, whatever practice handled them. Technology and software sits at 1.9 deals per client. Banks and financial institutions recorded 3,433 deals for 1,314 clients, or 2.6 per client. Pharma and biotech recorded 3,276 deals for 1,359 clients, or 2.4. The three sectors carry deal counts of a similar size, yet technology spreads its work across far more companies: 1,713 clients against 1,314 for banks.

The banking and finance practice's own figure of 2.3 covers every sector it serves, so it is a reference point for the bench, not a fourth sector. The consequence for a technology company is practical. When the average client comes back less often within a year, fewer law firms build a long run of mandates with any one technology company, and less sector knowledge sits with each relationship partner. Ask a firm how many technology clients it has advised more than once in the past 12 months, not how many technology deals it has closed.

In the Sartori & Partners deal record, banking and finance lawyers worked on 3.8% of technology and software deals, against 6.3% of all dated deals. The sibling sectors sit on either side. Finance lawyers appear on 15.8% of bank and financial institution deals and on 2.4% of pharma and biotech deals, so technology sits between a sector where finance lawyers appear often and one where they appear rarely.

Seen from the practice side, technology accounts for 4.1% of the finance practice's deals, or 124 deals, while technology carries 6.8% of all dated deals. Many deals carry no practice or sector label, so these shares are not a split of the work and are never added together. They still make one point clearly: a finance partner meets technology companies on a small slice of a busy year. A technology company that needs bank lending or leveraged and acquisition finance should check that the partner across the table has done that work for companies in its own sector, not only for banks and financial sponsors.

Deal size is the next gap. Sartori & Partners figures show that 25.5% of technology and software deals disclosed a value, with a median of $250 million. For the banking and finance practice, 47.7% of deals disclosed a value and the median was $545 million. The technology median covers all the sector's deals, whatever practice worked on them, so it mixes venture and growth deals, M&A and capital markets work with the few financings. Bank and financial institution deals that disclosed a value had a median of $660 million.

Two readings follow for a technology company. Its financing can sit well below the median deal a finance partner sees, and fewer technology deals put a figure in the open, so published credentials tell you less. Price the mandate with that in mind: ask for staffing that fits the size of your facility, and ask the firm to walk you through deals near your own size, disclosed or not.

The finance practice's work is anchored in lending. Banking and lending carries 44.5% of its deals, leveraged and acquisition finance 23.4% and project and infrastructure finance 10.7%. Technology deals look very different. Banking and lending appears on 2.1% of technology deals and leveraged and acquisition finance on 0.9%, while venture and growth deals appear on 15.3% and M&A on 30.0%. Across the whole market, banking and lending covers 3.3% of dated deals.

For a general counsel the lesson is about fit, not volume. A technology financing often sits next to an acquisition or a growth round, so the finance lawyer you hire has to work in step with the corporate team running the larger deal. Ask who leads when the two overlap, and whether the finance and corporate partners have closed deals together for a technology client before.

Direction matters for timing. Technology and software deal flow held flat (+4.6%) between the settled 12-month windows, from 3,136 to 3,279 deals. Over the same windows the banking and finance practice's deal count rose 12.1%, from 2,710 to 3,039, and the whole deal market rose 10.6%, from 43,590 to 48,216. These are separate readings: no trend is published for finance work done for technology companies as a pair.

Lawyer movement adds a second signal. In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, the number of banking and finance lawyers changing firms rose 14.1%, from 1,766 to 2,015, and partner moves in the practice rose 10.6%, from 546 to 604. A finance practice with more deals and steady technology demand means the partners you want spend more of their year on other sectors. Bring them in early in a financing timetable, and check that the partner who handled your last deal is still at the same firm.

The two lists answer different questions. The technology list ranks firms on all of the sector's work, in any practice; the finance list ranks them on all of the practice's work, in any sector. Two firms sit on both: Latham & Watkins and Davis Polk & Wardwell. The technology list opens with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, the finance list with Latham & Watkins. No published list ranks firms on finance work for technology companies alone.

Geography gives a second filter. Bay Area offices carry real weight in the sector: 18.1% of the sector's deals were handled with lawyers in San Francisco, 10.5% with lawyers in Palo Alto and 9.7% with lawyers in Silicon Valley. One deal can count in several cities, so these rows are not added. New York appears on 38.7% of the sector's deals. A shortlist can start where the two firm lists meet, then test each candidate's finance partners on technology clients served from those offices.

Start from the client ratio. At 1.9 deals per technology client, repeat relationships are thinner than in banking or pharma, so ask each firm for the technology companies it has financed more than once and for references from them. Second, check sector exposure: finance lawyers sat on 3.8% of technology deals, so a strong finance partner may still have little technology work behind them. Third, match size: with a sector median of $250 million against $545 million for the practice, agree staffing and fees that fit your deal, not the firm's typical financing. Fourth, plan for a busy bench and line up counsel before the term sheet, not after it.