Client industry · November 2026
Aerospace & Defence: who advises the sector
Dated deals for aerospace & defence clients over the last 12 months, the practices and firms behind them, and how lawyers with this focus moved.
The last 12 months: November 2025 to October 2026
- 644
- Dated deals, 12 monthsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- +50.7%
- Year on yearSettled 12-month windows
- $500m
- Median disclosed value
- 328
- Distinct clients
What the data show
Sartori & Partners data count 644 dated deals for Aerospace & Defence clients from November 2025 to October 2026. Measured on settled 12-month windows, 651 deals against 432 the year before, the deal count rose 50.7%. The deal market as a whole moved +10.6% over the same windows.
By practice, Corporate & M&A is involved in 42.2% of these deals and Capital Markets in 36.5%. By deal type, Capital markets is involved in 34.9% of these deals and M&A in 27.5%.
Deal value was disclosed on 29.5% of them; where disclosed, the median was $500 million. 328 distinct clients appear across the window.
First among advising firms is Latham & Watkins, with deals in the 41-60 band.
Lawyers whose work centers on Aerospace & Defence changed firm 33 times in the same window. Partners were 54.5% of those moves, against 27.7% across the lateral market. Year on year those moves changed +21.4%.
For a general counsel in Aerospace & Defence, these are the firms and practices that see the most of the sector's work: the bench to brief, and the bench in-house hires come from.
Firms by rank and band
Each firm appears as a rank and a band, never an exact count, and only with at least 10 moves in the window.
| Rank | Firm | Deals (band) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latham & Watkins | 41-60 |
| 2 | Davis Polk & Wardwell | 21-40 |
| 3 | Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati | 21-40 |
| 4 | Kirkland & Ellis | 21-40 |
| 5 | Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton | 21-40 |
| 6 | Goodwin Procter | 11-20 |
| 7 | Jones Day | 11-20 |
| 8 | Fenwick & West | 11-20 |
| 9 | Clifford Chance | 11-20 |
| 10 | Simpson Thacher & Bartlett | 11-20 |
Related monitors and reports
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Up one level
Working with us
Reports
- Aerospace and Defense Lawyers: Hiring Is 2.9 Times as Concentrated
Over 36 months the top 10 hirers of aerospace and defense lawyers took 35.9% of the moves, 2.9 times the top-10 share across all lateral moves. The movers are senior, with 68.5% joining as partners and 53.3% joining a firm in Washington, DC.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Aerospace and Defense Legal Work: Venture Work at 3.1 Times the Market
Venture and growth financings appear on 11.6% of aerospace and defense deals, 3.1 times their share of the whole market. The shift comes with the fastest deal growth of any sector we track, and with lawyers in Washington working on 26.7% of the sector's deals.
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].
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