Where Top Law Firms Source Lateral Hires in 2026: Three Supply Lines

Leaders who ask where do law firms recruit lateral lawyers from tend to expect one answer. Sartori & Partners data show that over 3 years 56.6% of lateral hires with a known origin came from firms of 1,000+ lawyers, 20.3% from firms of 400-999 lawyers, 11.7% from firms of 150-399 lawyers and 11.4% from firms under 150 lawyers. The busiest hirers depart sharply from that average, and the direction they depart in tells a recruiting partner which bench to search first and which rivals will be bidding for the same people.

This report reads six named hirers against the market. Two transactional firms buy almost only from big law. Two growth hirers lean on firms of 400-999 lawyers. A national litigation firm draws little from big law, and a global firm recruits in close to market proportions. Firm shares are rounded to the nearest five points. Firm rankings count individual hires: lawyers who arrived as one team in the same quarter sit in market totals but not in a firm's rank. The data come from public law-firm announcements, firm websites and professional profiles, checked monthly.

In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, 4,313 moves in the last 12 months went from one firm of 1,000+ lawyers to another, 39.0% of all moves where both firm sizes are known. The next flow down the table, from firms of 400-999 lawyers into the largest class, was 1,200 moves, and 1,117 went the other way. Smaller firms supply the largest class on a lower scale: 499 lawyers moved from firms of 150-399 lawyers into firms of 1,000+ lawyers, and 432 from firms under 150 lawyers.

This table is the base rate every named hirer below is measured against. A lawyer leaving a firm of 1,000+ lawyers was 3.9 times as likely to join another firm of that size as a firm of 400-999 lawyers. A midsize bidder for that person starts behind, and should price the search accordingly.

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett took 90% of its lateral hires in the last 12 months from firms of 1,000+ lawyers; Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe took 85%. Measured over 3 years, so that both sides cover the same window, the shares were 85% and 75% against 56.6% for the market: gaps of 28.4 points and 18.4 points.

Both are large buyers. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett ranks 9th among hirers by 12-month lateral hires and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe ranks in the 11-25 group. Their level mix is close to the market's: associates made up 60% and 70% of hires, against 58.5% market-wide. What sets them apart is the source class and the work. Corporate and M&A runs through 65% of hires at the first, and banking and finance through 30% at the second, against 20.7% and 13.9% for the market.

These two compete inside one pool: corporate and finance associates already at firms of 1,000+ lawyers. A firm outside that class that bids for the same associates faces hirers that take almost nothing from anywhere else. The open ground is the midsize class, which supplied 20.3% of the market's hires over 3 years and only 5% of the first firm's in the last 12 months.

Barnes & Thornburg drew 45% of its 12-month hires from firms of 400-999 lawyers and 25% from firms of 1,000+ lawyers. The midsize class supplied 20.3% of the market's hires over 3 years, so its weight in this firm's mix is far above the norm. Taft Stettinius & Hollister follows the same route at lower intensity: 30% from midsize firms and 25% from the largest class. Barnes & Thornburg ranks in the 26-50 group of hirers by volume, and Taft Stettinius & Hollister in the 26-50 group.

Barnes & Thornburg also buys partners heavily. Partners made up 50% of its 12-month hires, against 27.7% across the market, and it ranks in the 11-25 group of partner hirers. The partner share at Taft Stettinius & Hollister, 25%, sits close to the market's, and its hires cluster in Chicago, Cleveland and Denver.

Net partner flow, which sets lateral partners hired against partners who left for another firm over 12 months, was positive at Barnes & Thornburg and positive at Taft Stettinius & Hollister. Both sit in the market's top 10 net partner gainers below. For leaders of firms of 400-999 lawyers, these are the bidders to watch, because their partner benches are the stock these hirers draw on. For a firm of 1,000+ lawyers planning regional growth, the route has volume behind it: the midsize class sent 1,200 lawyers into the largest class in 12 months.

Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, the 7th-ranked hirer by 12-month volume, took only 15% of its hires from firms of 1,000+ lawyers, the lowest share of the six hirers here, against 56.6% for the market over 3 years. Over 3 years its largest source was firms of 150-399 lawyers, at about 20% of hires against 11.7% for the market. Its practice mix fits that pattern. Litigation runs through 80% of its hires against 39.9% market-wide, with product liability and torts at 30% and insurance at 15%: work that smaller litigation firms handle in volume.

Its hires also lean to the counsel title, at 30% against 12.7% for the market. For leaders of smaller firms, this is the named hirer that leans least on big law, and litigators are what it buys. For a large firm building an insurance or product liability bench, the supply sits in smaller firms rather than in big-law peers, and the search should be scoped that way from the first brief.

Dentons, the 6th-ranked hirer by volume and the 4th-ranked partner hirer, took 50% of its 12-month hires from firms of 1,000+ lawyers and 10% from firms under 150 lawyers. The market's 3-year shares for the same two classes are 56.6% and 11.4%. Sartori & Partners figures place it near the average on the largest and the smallest class, which sets it apart from the other five hirers here.

Its hiring also spreads across cities. New York, its largest city, holds 10% of its hires, against 40% at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. A hirer with a market-shaped mix bids in every class and many cities at once. For competitors, it is the one rival on this list that a recruiting plan cannot avoid by changing the source class: the difference has to come from the role offered, not the pool searched.

Start a lateral search by naming the source class, because the named hirers show it is a choice. A firm that wants corporate and finance associates from big law will meet Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, which take 90% and 85% of hires from that class. A firm that wants to grow the way Barnes & Thornburg does can look to the same source, firms of 400-999 lawyers, which sent 1,200 lawyers to the largest class in 12 months. A firm building a litigation, insurance or product liability bench can follow Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani into firms of 150-399 lawyers, which supplied 11.7% of the market's hires over 3 years.

Each source class can sustain a partner bench. Net partner flow was positive at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, positive at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, positive at Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani and positive at Dentons, as at the two growth hirers. For firms of 400-999 lawyers the message runs the other way: the largest class took 1,200 lawyers from them and sent back 1,117, so a retention plan for midsize partners should assume the growth hirers are already calling.