Do Law Firms Hire Where They Do Deals? Capital Markets Says No

Do law firms hire laterals in their busiest deal practices? At the firms that advise the most deals, mostly not. Sartori & Partners data show capital markets on 26.4% of the 48,131 dated deals of the 12 months to October 2026, more than any other practice, yet on only 4.3% of the 14,091 lateral moves in the same months. The same split holds inside the firms at the top of the deal tables. Their deal work runs heavily through capital markets; their lateral hiring runs through banking and finance, corporate work and private equity. For a firm that sizes its recruiting to its deal flow, that gap is the first thing to get right.

Three notes on reading the figures. Practice shares count every practice a deal or a move involves, so they overlap and are compared, never added up. Firm shares are rounded, so read them as sizes, not exact figures, and firm mixes count lawyers hired one by one: a team that joined together in the same quarter sits in the market totals but not in a firm's mix or rank. Deal counts include disputes from public court and trademark records and weigh every matter the same, so they measure matters on record, not revenue or hours.

Across the whole market, the practices that carry deal volume and the practices that move lawyers are two different lists. Capital markets' share of deals is 6.1 times its share of lateral moves. In counts, that is 12,684 capital markets deals against 609 capital markets lateral moves. At partner level the picture hardly changes: the practice accounted for 4.9% of lateral partner moves.

Other transactional practices run the opposite way. Banking and finance appeared on 6.3% of deals and 13.9% of moves. Private equity appeared on 2.7% of deals and 8.8% of moves. Corporate and M&A sits close to level, at 23.3% of deals and 20.7% of moves.

Capital markets deals rose 10.0% on settled windows, 13,024 against 11,838 a year earlier. A rising deal count does not bring more movable lawyers with it. A firm that adds capital markets mandates should not expect the lateral market to supply the bench at the same pace: the candidates are few, and many of them sit at the firms on the list above.

The sharpest case is the firm ranked 2nd by deals advised and 1st by capital markets deals. About 70% of Davis Polk & Wardwell deals ran through capital markets over 12 months, against about 20% of its lateral hires. Its hiring went first to litigation and disputes, at about 30%, and to banking and finance, at about 30%. Banking and finance carried only about 5% of its deals.

The hiring base is small. In the Sartori & Partners lateral database the firm sits in the 51-100 group of lateral hirers, so each rounded share rests on few lawyers. The three-year mix points the same way, though: capital markets was about 15% of its lateral hires over 3 years, banking and finance about 30%.

The consequence is plain. The firm at the top of the capital markets deal list puts only a small part of its lateral hiring into that practice. For a rival, its capital markets lawyers are a source of candidates trained on volume, and its own lateral budget is spent on other practices.

Latham & Watkins, first by deals advised, shows the split at scale. About 40% of its deals ran through capital markets and about 15% of its lateral hires. Its hiring centered on corporate and M&A, at about 30%, with banking and finance at about 20% and private equity at about 20%. Private equity carried only about 5% of its deals.

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, 4th by deals and 9th by lateral hires, shows the same tilt more sharply. Capital markets made up about 40% of its deals and about 10% of its lateral hires. Corporate and M&A drew about 65% of its hires and private equity about 35%, while private equity carried about 5% of its deals.

Both firms rank high on the capital markets deal list, 2nd and 4th, and both spend most of their lateral effort on the transactional practices beside it. The pattern is not one year's noise: over 3 years, capital markets was about 10% of lateral hires at the deal list's number one. A firm recruiting private equity or M&A laterals competes with platforms that use their hiring to widen the corporate side, not to add capital markets capacity.

Sidley Austin, 8th by deals advised, turns the deal mix around most clearly. Banking and finance made up about 40% of its lateral hires and about 5% of its deals. Capital markets made up about 40% of its deals and about 10% of its hires.

It is also the most partner-heavy hirer of the five firms here. Partners were about 40% of its lateral hires, against 27.7% across the market, and it ranks 7th among lateral partner hirers. Its three-year mix shows the same lean, with banking and finance at about 35% of hires.

For a firm recruiting finance partners, this is the bidder a deal table hides. Its deal count rests on capital markets, so nothing in the deal rankings signals how hard it recruits in banking and finance. The partner hiring list and the firm's own practice mix are the better early warning.

Kirkland & Ellis is 3rd by deals and 1st among all lateral hirers, and its two mixes line up better than the others, though not fully. Corporate and M&A made up about 35% of its deals and about 35% of its lateral hires. Capital markets was about 20% of its deals but is absent from its main hiring practices, the smallest of which, real estate, took about 10% of hires.

Private equity runs the other way: about 20% of its lateral hires against about 10% of its deals. Funds work leans the same direction, at about 15% of hires and about 10% of deals. Financial sponsors were the largest client industry on its deals, at about 25%, which fits hiring that follows sponsor work rather than deal volume.

For private equity and funds searches, expect this firm across the table. For capital markets searches, its hiring mix gives no sign of it.

Do not size a lateral plan from a deal table. Sartori & Partners data show the practice with the most deals in the market moved 609 lateral lawyers in 12 months, and each of the five deal-table firms in this report gave it a smaller share of its lateral hires than of its deals. Deal share tells you where the work is, not where candidates can be found.

Plan capital markets hires as long searches. The firms high on the capital markets deal list put a small share of their own lateral hiring into the practice, and the practice moves few lawyers across the market, so supply is thin. Widen to senior associates and counsel who can step up, and budget time accordingly.

Expect deal platforms in banking and finance, private equity and corporate searches. Their deal mix says capital markets; their hiring says the practices around it. Price offers in those practices against firms whose deal tables never suggested they were your rivals.

Read each firm share as a size, not a count. The shares are rounded, deal counts include public-record disputes, and a team hired together is outside a firm's mix.