Team Moves by City: 17.9% in Minneapolis, 1.5% Overall

Firms weighing a group hire tend to start with one question: how often do lawyers move as a team? Sartori & Partners data show that 1.5% of lateral moves in the latest 12 months were part of a team joining the same firm in the same quarter. Every other move was an individual hire. The market figure hides a wide spread by city. In Minneapolis the team share was 17.9%; in New York it was 1.3%. This report sets the cities side by side first, then the practices, and closes with what the spread means for a firm planning a group hire.

Begin with the cities that carry most of the volume. New York firms made 2,083 lateral hires in the latest 12 months and London firms 1,302. In New York, team moves were 1.3% of lateral moves, and in London 1.3%, both a little under the 1.5% market rate. The two biggest hiring centers are where a lawyer is least likely to arrive with colleagues.

Both cities hire from deep benches. New York moves went to 310 different firms and London moves to 180, and the ten firms that hired most in New York took only 21.5% of its individual hires. Both also lean toward transactional work. Corporate and M&A carried 24.2% of New York moves and 23.3% of London moves, against 20.7% across the market, while litigation carried 35.2% in New York, below its 39.9% market share.

For a firm hiring in either city, partners arrive one at a time. A growth plan that counts on a group lift in New York or London is planning around the exception: budget for individual partners, and expect the build to take several hiring cycles.

In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, 17.9% of Minneapolis lateral moves were team moves, 11.9 times the market rate and 16.4 points above it. The city is small: 106 lateral moves in the latest 12 months, 0.8% of the market, and 25th among cities by volume. On a base that size, a single team joining a firm shifts the share by several points, so read the figure as a size, not a ranking.

The monthly record is lumpy. January 2026 is the only month in the last 24 months with enough Minneapolis moves to publish, at 24. Hiring is concentrated too: the ten most active firms took 54.0% of the city's individual hires, against 12.9% across the market, and only 39 firms hired there at all. Volume rose 40.8% year on year, from 76 to 107 moves in the settled 12-month windows.

The work mix explains some of it. Litigation and disputes carried 56.6% of Minneapolis moves, an index of 142 against the market, and employment and labor indexed at 176. Partners made 31.1% of the city's lateral moves, against 27.7% market-wide. For a firm entering or expanding in Minneapolis, a team is a realistic route rather than a long shot, and with few active hirers, the firm that moves first on a group faces a short list of rivals for it.

Three mid-sized cities sit well above the market rate without reaching Minneapolis. Seattle's team share was 7.7%, Philadelphia's 6.7% and Dallas's 5.5%. Set against the market, that is 5.1, 4.5 and 3.7 times the rate. All three are larger than Minneapolis, with 156, 270 and 345 lateral moves in the latest 12 months, so one team moves their shares less.

What the three share with Minneapolis is a heavy litigation mix. Litigation and disputes carried 69.9% of Seattle moves, 55.6% in Philadelphia and 51.6% in Dallas. Disputes groups are built around case files, and a partner who brings the associates who know those files keeps matters running through the move.

Each city adds its own detail. Dallas is partner-heavy: partners made 32.2% of its lateral moves, and partner hires rose 40.7% year on year, from 81 to 114. Philadelphia leans on smaller platforms: firms of under 150 lawyers took 19.2% of its moves, against 9.7% across the market. Seattle hiring is concentrated, with the ten most active firms taking 50.7% of individual hires.

For a firm building in these cities, the group route is open but not routine. Map the disputes benches at competing firms early, because litigation dominates hiring in all three and a group offered to you there is most likely a disputes team.

Practices show the same shape on a smaller scale. In international arbitration and public international law, 7.4% of lateral moves were team moves. In corporate and M&A, which ranks 2nd among practices by volume with 2,910 lateral moves, the share was 0.2%. Arbitration is small, at 162 moves, so its figure is a rough size.

The practice view lines up with the city view. Corporate and M&A indexes at 117 in New York and 113 in London, the two cities with the lowest team rates here. Arbitration is concentrated in London, which took 28.4% of the practice's moves, an index of 307. Yet London's overall team share stays at 1.3%: one team-prone practice is too small to lift a large city. Arbitration moves also go to large platforms, with 71.4% joining firms of 1,000+ lawyers.

For a corporate practice head, the number says build one partner at a time. For an arbitration head, a group conversation is a normal part of the market, and the competition for it comes mostly from the largest firms.

Public announcements give a second, narrower view. Sartori & Partners counted 32 announced team lifts since 2022, with a median team of 16 people. These are events, not shares of moves, so they cannot be added to the city figures above. The bands count the lawyers we could identify, which can be fewer than a firm announces.

Recent announcements show the range of buyers. In the third quarter of 2026, King & Spalding took a team in the 11-20 band from WilmerHale, and Brown Rudnick took one in the 11-20 band from Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer. In the second quarter, Kirkland & Ellis added a group in the 6-10 band from Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. Use the announced list to see who is building through groups, and the city shares to judge how often it happens where you hire.

Set the base rate by city before the budget. In New York and London, where team moves were 1.3% and 1.3% of lateral moves, plan growth on individual partners and treat a group as upside. In Minneapolis, at 17.9%, and in Seattle, Philadelphia and Dallas, a group is a live option: have conflicts checks, a compensation model for several partners at once and an integration plan ready before the first meeting.

Then adjust for practice. A corporate and M&A build, where only 0.2% of moves came as teams, is a partner-by-partner search. An arbitration or disputes build, at 7.4% in arbitration, can come in one step. The same numbers measure exposure: a firm with a disputes group in a mid-sized city should assume rivals are approaching it as a unit, and set retention terms with that in mind.