Data Intelligence · November 2026
Guides
Explainers on partnership, careers and in-house hiring, built on the same data.
Related monitors and reports
Hiring in this market
Reports
- Associate to Partner Timeline by Practice: Deal Lawyers Go First
Deal practices promote a year sooner than the market's 10.0 years, immigration and family lawyers wait longer, and restructuring names only 0.47 partners from within for each lateral partner it hires.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - How Long to Make Partner in 2026: The City Matters More Than Size
The median time to partner has held at 10.0 years since 2022, but the average has drifted later, the city shifts the answer by years even within one country, and firms hire 1.3 times as many partners from outside as they promote.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - How to Choose Outside Counsel in 2026: Start With the Matter Type
1,134 law firms advised on dated deals in the past 12 months, and the most active advisers change with the matter type. Choose by the work and your industry, not by the size of the firm.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - How to Hire In-House Counsel: 76.7% of Movers Are Associates
Three in four lawyers who leave a law firm for a company are associates (76.7%), and firms of 1,000+ lawyers supply 59.3% of them, more than that class takes of lateral moves. Source by level, firm size and city in that order.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Largest Law Firms and Lateral Hiring in 2026: Size Wins, Not Names
The biggest size class takes 53.6% of all lateral moves, but no small group of firms controls the market: the ten busiest hirers take 12.9%, spread across 1,291 firms that hired.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Lateral Partner Meaning: Partner Moves Tilt Toward Private Equity
A lateral partner is a partner hired from another firm. Partner moves rose 8.4% year on year, in line with the market, and their practice mix tilts toward private equity and restructuring, not litigation.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Law Firm Attrition Rate 2026: 13.2% of Lawyers Leave Each Year
A typical law firm loses about one lawyer in eight each year, a median leaving rate of 13.2%. The largest firms lose the most, and 86.1% of leavers go to another firm, not to a company.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Law Firm Hierarchy in 2026: Who Changes Firms, and Who Moves Up
The lateral market has the same shape as the firm itself: associates make up 58.5% of movers, partners 27.7%, and only 12.9% of lawyers win a higher title by moving.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Legal Department Structure: Companies Staff Corporate, Buy Trial Work
Companies build their legal teams around corporate work: corporate lawyers were 33.2% of hires from law firms, against 20.7% of moves between firms. Litigators are hired too, but mostly to manage cases that law firms then run.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Of Counsel Meaning: The Tier Gaining on Partner Promotions
Of counsel is the senior tier between associate and partner. Counsel promotions rose from 46.8% of partner promotions in 2022 to 55.1% in 2025, and counsel now run a lateral market and a route in-house of their own.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - What Is a General Counsel? 772 Companies Hire From Law Firms
A general counsel runs a company's legal function. Companies fill legal seats from law firms steadily, about 159 moves a month spread across 772 companies, with no single employer dominating.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026
Edition November 2026. Window: November 2025 to October 2026. Source: Sartori & Partners, from public law-firm announcements, firm websites and professional profiles, checked monthly. Methodology. Spot an error? [email protected].
For law firm leaders
Planning a partner hire in this market?
We run retained partner searches using the same data behind this page.