Biggest Lateral Hiring Law Firms 2026: One Profile, One Outlier

The biggest lateral hiring law firms 2026 has produced look alike on paper. Sartori & Partners data show that all ten firms on the 12-month list of lateral hirers sit in the 1,000+ lawyers class, the size class that took 53.6% of lateral moves in the market. Beneath that shared size, the ten differ on three things a hiring partner can use: how junior the hires are, what size of firm they come from, and where they land. One firm breaks the pattern on all three.

The ranking counts individual hires. Lawyers who arrived as one team in the same quarter are in the market totals but not in a firm's rank. Firm mixes are rounded to the nearest five points, so read them as profiles rather than precise splits.

Size is the first filter. Firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 53.6% of lateral moves over 12 months, against 9.7% for firms under 150 lawyers, although 1,291 firms hired at least one lateral lawyer in the period. No firm of 400-999 lawyers made the list. The concentration of hiring in the top 10 is covered in a separate report; the point here is who those ten are, and they are all platforms of the same scale.

For a firm outside the top size class, this sets the terms of most searches. The candidates it wants have often already heard from a much larger platform, so the speed of the offer, the title and the business case matter more than the brand alone.

Associates were 58.5% of all lateral moves in the 12 months. At Kirkland & Ellis, first on the list, they were about 75% of hires, and at Latham & Watkins, second, about 80%. Both run well above the market on junior hiring, which fits a model that grows deal teams by adding mid-level associates under an existing partner bench.

Second place by total hires does not carry over to partners: Latham & Watkins ranks in the 11-25 group of partner hirers. Further down the list the mix moves back toward the market. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett took about 60% associates and about 30% partners, a higher partner share than either of the two firms ahead of it, and Dentons sat at about 55% associates.

For a firm hiring associates, the two largest hirers set the price of mid-level corporate and finance talent: assume a strong candidate from a large firm is also in their process. For a firm hiring partners, the top of the volume ranking is less crowded than it looks, because much of that volume is junior.

Over three years, Sartori & Partners data show 56.6% of lateral hires across the market came from firms of 1,000+ lawyers. The transactional names on the list draw far more heavily from that class. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett took about 90% of its 12-month hires from firms of 1,000+ lawyers, Latham & Watkins about 80% and Kirkland & Ellis about 80%.

The market split by source is published over three years only, so the like-for-like check uses each firm's own three-year mix. It holds there too: about 85% for Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, 80% for Latham & Watkins and 75% for Kirkland & Ellis.

Dentons sits between the two patterns. About 50% of its 12-month hires came from firms of 1,000+ lawyers and about 10% from firms under 150 lawyers, close to the 11.4% the whole market drew from that class over three years. A firm that wants to reach candidates before the big-firm hirers do should look where most of them look least: Latham & Watkins took about 10% of hires from firms of 400-999 lawyers.

The outlier is the firm ranked 7th. Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani drew only about 15% of its 12-month hires from firms of 1,000+ lawyers, no more than it took from firms of 400-999 lawyers or from firms of 150-399 lawyers, about 15% each. Over three years its largest single share, about 20%, came from firms of 150-399 lawyers, against 11.7% for all lateral hires; firms under 150 lawyers supplied about 10%, close to the market's 11.4%.

The level mix departs from the rest as well. Counsel were about 30% of its 12-month hires, against 12.7% of moves in the market, and associates about 45%, the lowest associate share on the list. The work explains it: litigation and disputes covered about 80% of its hires, against 39.9% of all moves. Insurance, product liability and employment defense are commonly staffed from smaller litigation firms, where counsel and senior associates are the natural lateral step.

For a litigation firm of 150-399 lawyers, this is the large hirer most likely to approach its counsel and senior associates. For a big firm, it shows that a place in the top 10 can rest on a different supply line altogether.

New York took 14.8% of lateral moves in the market. It weighs far more for the transactional hirers: about 40% of 12-month hires at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, about 30% at Latham & Watkins and about 25% at Kirkland & Ellis.

The broad platforms hire across many offices. At Dentons, New York and Toronto each took about 10% of hires, with no other city above that. The largest city for Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani was San Francisco at about 10%, with New York at about 5%. A New York firm meets the transactional hirers on most corporate and finance searches; a firm in a secondary US city or abroad is more likely to meet the broad platforms.

First, benchmark against the right peer. The ten share a size class, but a litigation-led firm that compares itself with the transactional hirers will misread its own numbers. In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, the source mix is the quickest test: 90% from firms of 1,000+ lawyers at one end, 15% at the other.

Second, plan for retention as well as hiring. Firms of 1,000+ lawyers had a median leaving rate of 14.8% a year, against 13.2% for all firms measured. A volume rank also says little about the partner bench: Dentons ranks 6th by total hires but 4th as a partner hirer.

Third, pick the hiring ground these firms leave open. Most of the ten took small shares from firms of 400-999 lawyers and 150-399 lawyers; a firm that recruits there competes with fewer large offers. Partner searches also face less volume pressure than the headline ranking suggests, because associates were 58.5% of all lateral moves and more at the two largest hirers.