Partner-Heavy Lateral Hiring and Partner Growth: 2026 Firm Data

Among law firms hiring lateral partners vs associates, what a firm buys says more about partner growth than how much it buys. Sartori & Partners data show partners made up 27.7% of lateral moves in the 12 months to October 2026, and associates 58.5%. Four firms tilted their intake hard toward partners: about 55% of hires at King & Spalding and at Spencer Fane, 50% at Barnes & Thornburg and 45% at Willkie Farr & Gallagher. Every one of them ranks in the top 10 for net partner gain. Three large hirers whose intake is mostly associates do not. For a firm leader, the level mix of the next ten hires is a better guide to next year's partner count than the size of the recruiting budget.

Net partner flow sets the lateral partners a firm hired against the partners who left it for another firm over the same 12 months. Associates are left out of the measure, because firms that train their own associates expect to lose some of them sideways. On that basis Greenberg Traurig heads the ranking, in the 41-60 band. Willkie Farr & Gallagher is 3rd, Barnes & Thornburg 5th, Spencer Fane 8th and King & Spalding 9th. Firm rankings count individual hires; a group that joined together in one quarter adds to the market totals but not to a firm's place.

The four do not share a profile beyond their mix. Their lateral partner hires all fall in the 21-40 band, yet their practices differ: litigation is about 55% of hires at Barnes & Thornburg, while corporate work is about 40% at Willkie Farr & Gallagher and banking about 30% at King & Spalding. What they have in common is that each puts at least 45% of its lateral intake into partners, against 27.7% across all firms. A firm that wants a larger partner bench in a year can read the lesson plainly: the partners have to be bought on purpose, not left as a by-product of associate recruiting.

Latham & Watkins is the 2nd busiest lateral hirer in the Sartori & Partners lateral database, but associates are about 80% of its hires, against 58.5% for the market. The same is true at Linklaters, about 80% associates, and at Troutman Pepper Locke, about 75%. None of the three appears among the ten largest net partner gainers.

Their positions differ in detail. Partner flow at Linklaters and at Troutman Pepper Locke reads balanced: partners hired and partners who left for other firms roughly offset each other. Both sit in the 6-10 band for lateral partner hires and in the 101-200 group of partner hirers. Latham & Watkins is the more instructive case. It hires lateral partners in the same 21-40 band as the four partner-heavy firms and its partner flow is positive, but the net sits in the 6-10 band, under the 11-20 band of the tenth firm on the list. The gap between its hiring band and its net band is made of partners who left for other firms. Hiring partners at volume is not enough on its own; the net depends just as much on who leaves.

Six of the seven firms are in the 1,000+ lawyers class. The exception is Spencer Fane, in the 400-999 lawyers class, which still reaches 8th place. Volume does not explain it either. King & Spalding, Barnes & Thornburg and Willkie Farr & Gallagher hired laterally in the 61-100 band at all levels, exactly the band of Linklaters and Troutman Pepper Locke. Five firms of similar size took in a similar number of lawyers; the three that bought partners grew the partner bench, and the two that bought associates held it level.

The partner-heavy mix is also a recent choice. Over 3 years, partners were about 35% of hires at King & Spalding and 30% at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, well under their latest 12-month shares, while the market's partner share held near 26.9%. Only Spencer Fane has run a partner-led mix for the whole period, at about 50% over 3 years. A rival's position on the net partner ranking can therefore change within a single hiring year, and a leader benchmarking against last year's list is looking at old intent.

The associate-heavy model is not a failure to grow partners; it grows them by another route. In the promotion year to May 2026, Latham & Watkins and Linklaters each promoted partners in the 21-40 band, while all four partner-heavy firms promoted in the 11-20 band. The trade-off shows in timing: time to partner at the first two firms is longer than the market, whereas it is shorter at Barnes & Thornburg, Willkie Farr & Gallagher and Spencer Fane. Lateral partners arrive with a practice already built; promoted partners take years to produce.

Retention matters on both sides. The share of all lawyers leaving each year is below the market at King & Spalding and Barnes & Thornburg, but above the market at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, which still ranks 3rd for net partner gain. Sartori & Partners records a growing partner market behind all of this: lateral partner moves rose 8.4%, from 3,558 to 3,858, in the settled windows ending September 2026. More partners moving means more to win and more to replace, so the mix decision now carries more weight than it did a year ago.

Decide the level mix before the budget. If partners are near the market's 27.7% of your lateral hires, expect partner growth to come mainly from promotion, on your own timetable. If the aim is net partner gain inside 12 months, the four firms here that achieved it put about 45% or more of their intake into partners, and you will meet them on the same shortlists, with the same litigation, finance and corporate candidates in view.

Track departures as closely as arrivals. A firm hiring partners in the 21-40 band can finish anywhere from the top 10 to the lower bands depending on who leaves, so pair every partner search with a review of the partners most likely to be approached. And read associate-heavy rivals correctly: their partner bench is built through promotion, so they compete hardest for senior associates who expect a track, and less often for the partner you are courting now.