Deal Leaders vs Lateral Hiring Leaders 2026: Five Firms on Both Lists

Do the law firms with the most deals hire the most laterals? Only in part. Sartori & Partners data show 1,134 firms advised at least one dated deal in the 12 months to October 2026 and 1,291 firms hired at least one lateral lawyer. Set the two top 10 lists side by side and five names appear on both. The other five deal leaders do not reach the hiring top 10, and several of the most active hirers do not reach the deal top 10 at all. For a firm planning its next partner search, the two lists answer different questions: one shows who wins mandates, the other shows who is bidding for the same candidates.

Two reading notes. The hiring ranks count lawyers hired one by one; a team that joined together in the same quarter is in the market totals but not in a firm's rank. Deal ranks count deals advised, including disputes taken from public court and trademark records, so a deal band is a measure of matters on record, not of revenue or headcount.

The firms on both lists are Latham & Watkins, Kirkland & Ellis, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, White & Case and DLA Piper. Their positions do not line up. Kirkland & Ellis is 1st by lateral hires and 3rd by deals. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is 4th by deals and 9th by hires. DLA Piper reverses that pattern: 3rd by hires, 9th by deals.

The ten busiest hirers took 12.9% of all lateral moves in the period, so even the overlap firms compete inside a wide market. One deal leader reaches the hiring tables only at partner level: Sidley Austin, 8th by deals, is missing from the all-level list but ranks 7th among lateral partner hirers. Clifford Chance, Jones Day and A&O Shearman appear on neither the all-level nor the partner list.

For a hiring partner, the overlap firms are the rivals to price against: they win the deals your candidates want to work on and they recruit at volume. The deal leaders outside both hiring lists matter for a different reason. They win large volumes of work without recruiting at the top of the market, which makes their deal lawyers a place to find candidates rather than a rival bidding for them.

The widest gap belongs to Davis Polk & Wardwell. It is number 2 among firms by deals advised, in the 1,200+ band, yet it sits in the 51-100 group of lateral hirers and the 101-200 group of lateral partner hirers. Its deal work is concentrated: about 70% of its deals ran through capital markets. Its lateral hiring is concentrated too, with about 65% of 12-month hires joining in New York and about 90% coming from firms of 1,000+ lawyers.

The level mix shows how the few laterals are used. Counsel were about 25% of its lateral hires, against 12.7% of moves across the market, and partners about 15%, against 27.7%. Net partner flow, which sets lateral partners hired against partners who left for another firm over 12 months, was positive. The share of its lawyers who leave each year is above the market rate.

That combination is the useful part. A firm that tops the deal tables, hires few laterals and sees its lawyers leave at an above-market rate is a source of trained capital markets associates and counsel in New York, not a rival bidder for them. Search there first when the brief calls for issuer or underwriter experience at volume.

Three of the seven busiest hirers have no top-10 deal count: Greenberg Traurig, Dentons and Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani. All three also sit on the partner list, at 2nd, 4th and 8th. Paul Hastings and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher complete the hiring list without a place among the deal leaders.

The practice mix of the market explains much of the split. Litigation and disputes accounted for 39.9% of lateral moves, but the practice appears on only 3.7% of dated deals. Employment work follows the same pattern, on 10.7% of lateral moves and 0.7% of deals. A firm that grows through litigation, real estate and regional offices hires at the top of the market without moving far up a deal table.

Greenberg Traurig shows the profile clearly. It ranks 4th among lateral hirers and 2nd among partner hirers, while it sits in the 11-25 group by deals advised. About 35% of its 12-month hires were in litigation and about 20% in real estate, and about 20% joined in Miami. It also heads the list of net partner gainers, in the 41-60 band: counting lateral partners hired against partners who left for other firms over 12 months, no other firm gained more partners net. About 35% of the deals it advised were disputes.

For a firm hiring litigators, real estate partners or a regional office head, these are the offers to expect across the table, and the deal tables will not warn you of them. Watch the partner list, not the deal list.

The split repeats inside capital markets, the largest practice by deals, on 26.4% of dated deals but only 4.3% of lateral moves. Davis Polk & Wardwell is first by capital markets deals and does not appear among the practice's ten most active lateral hirers. That list is headed by Latham & Watkins, which is 2nd by deals.

Five firms are on both capital markets lists: Latham & Watkins, White & Case, Cooley, Sidley Austin and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. Greenberg Traurig is the practice's 3rd most active hirer without a top-10 capital markets deal count, which matches its position in the overall tables.

In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, capital markets hiring is small and concentrated. The practice saw 609 lateral moves in 12 months, its ten most active hirers took 25.0% of them against 12.9% for the whole market, and 69.1% of moves went to firms of 1,000+ lawyers. Lateral hiring in the practice held flat (+6.7%) on settled windows, 609 moves against 571 a year earlier. Capital markets deals rose 10.0% over the same windows.

Deal volume in the practice is rising while the pool of lawyers who move is not. A firm building a capital markets bench should expect a long search, compete mostly with firms of 1,000+ lawyers, and look hard at the deal leaders that hire little, where trained lawyers sit.

Corporate work overlaps more. Latham & Watkins heads the corporate deal list, and six of the ten corporate deal leaders also sit among the practice's ten most active hirers: Kirkland & Ellis, DLA Piper, Latham & Watkins, White & Case, Cooley and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

The gaps run both ways. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Goodwin Procter, 3rd and 4th by corporate deals, are not on the corporate hiring list; venture and growth financings make up 10.2% of the practice's deals, and a high place on that part of the deal list does not carry over to the hiring list. In the other direction, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is 3rd by corporate lateral hires without a top-10 corporate deal count, though it ranks 4th by deals overall.

Sartori & Partners data show corporate lateral hiring rose 15.8% on settled windows, from 2,532 to 2,933 moves. Corporate deals rose 9.5% over the same windows. The ten most active corporate hirers took 21.6% of the practice's moves. Hiring is running ahead of deal flow, so corporate candidates have more options than a year ago and offers need to land quickly.

First, do not read the deal top 10 as a map of your hiring rivals. Five of its names recruit at volume and five do not. Price your offers against the overlap firms, and treat the deal leaders that hire little as places where candidates are trained.

Second, the firms you will meet most often in a partner search sit on the hiring list, not the deal list. Greenberg Traurig, Dentons and Willkie Farr & Gallagher rank among the ten most active partner hirers without a top-10 deal count. In litigation, real estate and regional builds, expect them in the process.

Third, plan capital markets searches as scarce-supply searches. With 609 moves in 12 months and 201 firms hiring, the bench is thin, and the firm that advised the most capital markets deals is not among the practice's ten most active hirers. Allow more time, and widen to counsel and senior associates who can step up.

Fourth, in corporate work, move fast. Hiring is rising faster than deal counts, the overlap firms recruit at scale, and a candidate who is interviewing with you is likely to be speaking with at least one of them.