Practices Where Specialist Firms Lead Lateral Hiring in 2026

Ask which law firms dominate hiring in each practice area and the answer splits along one line: what kind of firm heads the list. Sartori & Partners data show that in employment, product liability and insurance the most active lateral hirer over the 12 months to October 2026 is a firm whose own hiring sits mostly in that work, and that the top 10 hirers took 30.0% of employment moves against 12.9% across the whole market. In private equity and capital markets the lists are headed by the same global full-service platforms that head the market list. For a firm planning its next lateral hire, the type of rival changes the search: who else is bidding, which level of lawyer they want, and where they recruit.

Rankings count individual lateral hires. Lawyers who arrived as one team in the same quarter are in the practice totals but not in a firm's rank. Firm profiles (practice mix, level mix, the size of the firms hires came from) are rounded to the nearest five points, so read them as profiles, not exact splits. The underlying records are public law-firm announcements, firm websites and professional profiles, checked monthly.

In employment, Jackson Lewis hired more lateral lawyers than any other firm, and about 90% of its own lateral hires carried employment work. In product liability the first name is Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker, whose hires were about 75% litigation and about 60% product liability: a defense-litigation profile. In insurance, Kennedys Law comes first, with about 55% of its hires in insurance work and about 70% in litigation.

The specialist lists share names below the first row. Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani appears on all three: 5th in employment, 2nd in product liability and 4th in insurance. Clyde & Co sits on both the insurance and the product liability lists. Two more firms from the market's top 10, Greenberg Traurig and Dentons, also make the employment list, below the four firms at the top. The top 10 hirers took 30.0% of product liability moves and 31.9% of insurance moves.

A firm adding an employment or defense lawyer is therefore bidding against a platform that recruits in that one field all year, with a settled pitch and a large peer group for the candidate. Winning that candidate takes a clear answer to what the practice will be inside a firm where it is one group among many.

The private equity list reads like the market list. Kirkland & Ellis and Latham & Watkins come first and second, the same two firms that head lateral hiring across all practices, and Latham & Watkins heads capital markets. Neither is built on one practice. Kirkland & Ellis drew about 35% of its hires from its largest practice, Corporate & M&A, and about 20% from private equity; the largest practice at Latham & Watkins carried about 30% of its hires. At the head of the employment list, one practice carried about 90%.

Concentration alone does not separate the two groups: the top 10 took 27.0% of private equity moves, also far above the market figure of 12.9%. What differs is the kind of firm that holds the share, and with it the size of the firms doing the hiring. Firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 71.6% of private equity moves and 69.1% of capital markets moves, against 46.9% in employment and 53.6% across the market.

A mid-sized firm hiring in private equity or capital markets competes with platforms that recruit corporate, finance and funds lawyers in one sweep and offer a hire a large flow of deal work. The pitch that works against them is a defined role and a faster path to a book, not a broader practice.

Sartori & Partners figures on level mix show the specialist model most clearly. Counsel were about 25% of Jackson Lewis lateral hires and about 25% at Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker, against 12.7% across the market and 15.2% in employment as a whole. Partners were about 10% and about 5% of their hires, where the market figure is 27.7%. At Latham & Watkins, by contrast, counsel were about 5% of hires and associates about 80%: the platforms also hire associates heavily, but they use the counsel title far less. Kirkland & Ellis took about 25% partners, against about 10% at the head of the employment list.

The partner rankings point the same way. In employment, Ogletree Deakins heads the partner list and Jackson Lewis is 4th. In product liability, Kirkland & Ellis, whose own hiring is led by Corporate & M&A, is on the partner list, while Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker ranks in the 201+ group of partner hirers market-wide.

For a firm hiring a partner in these fields, the specialist at the top of the list is a weaker rival than the overall ranking suggests. For a firm hiring a senior associate or counsel, the specialist is the main competition, and it hires at the counsel title at 2.0 times the market share.

The supply lines differ as much as the leaders. Only about 10% of the 12-month lateral hires at Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker came from firms of 1,000+ lawyers; firms under 150 lawyers, 150-399 lawyers and 400-999 lawyers each supplied about 15%. At Kennedys Law about 25% came from firms of 1,000+ lawyers and about 20% from firms under 150 lawyers. Jackson Lewis is more mixed, with about 35% from firms of 1,000+ lawyers and about 10% from firms under 150 lawyers. At Kirkland & Ellis, about 80% came from firms of 1,000+ lawyers, and about 80% at Latham & Watkins.

The practice totals in the Sartori & Partners lateral database show the same split. Over 3 years, firms under 150 lawyers supplied 20.6% of product liability lateral hires and 14.1% of employment hires, against 5.8% in private equity. A firm that recruits defense or employment associates from small firms is fishing in the same water as the specialists.

Lateral hiring in private equity rose 14.9% year on year, from 1,092 to 1,255 moves across the settled 12-month windows. Employment hiring rose 6.9%, from 1,438 to 1,537. Product liability held flat (+2.3%), with 981 moves against 959, and insurance held flat (+2.5%). Across all practices, lateral moves rose 9.0%.

Partner hiring in private equity rose 16.1%, from 404 to 469. Rising deal-side demand keeps the full-service platforms busy in corporate and finance, and the specialist practices hold a steady pool that the specialists work year after year. For a firm hiring in employment or defense work, a steady market means next year's candidate bench will look much like this year's, with the same specialist firms bidding for it.

First, name the rival before the search starts. In employment, product liability and insurance it is a specialist with a deep associate and counsel pipeline; in private equity and capital markets it is a global platform that drew about 80% of its hires from firms of 1,000+ lawyers. Second, in the specialist fields, use the counsel title. The specialists hire counsel at about 25% of their intake, so a firm that offers only associate or partner titles competes for the middle of the market at a disadvantage.

Third, treat partner searches in these fields as more open than the headline ranking implies: in employment the partner list is headed by Ogletree Deakins, not by the firm that hires the most lawyers overall. Fourth, recruit where the specialists recruit, from firms under 150 lawyers, which supplied 14.1% of employment hires over 3 years. Sartori & Partners tracks these lists monthly, so a firm can see when a specialist slows its hiring and the field opens.