Client industry · November 2026
Consumer Goods & Retail: who advises the sector
Dated deals for consumer goods & retail 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
- 1,472
- Dated deals, 12 monthsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- -2.1%
- Year on yearSettled 12-month windows
- $540m
- Median disclosed value
- 646
- Distinct clients
What the data show
Sartori & Partners data count 1,472 dated deals for Consumer Goods & Retail clients from November 2025 to October 2026. Year on year the deal count held level (1,505 to 1,474 on settled windows, -2.1%). The deal market as a whole moved +10.6% over the same windows.
By practice, Intellectual Property is involved in 31.9% of these deals and Corporate & M&A in 23.4%. By deal type, Disputes & investigations is involved in 42.4% of these deals and Capital markets in 20.4%.
Deal value was disclosed on 10.7% of them; where disclosed, the median was $540 million. 646 distinct clients appear across the window.
First among advising firms is Latham & Watkins, with deals in the 61-100 band.
Lawyers whose work centers on Consumer Goods & Retail changed firm 123 times in the same window. Partners were 63.4% of those moves, against 27.7% across the lateral market. Year on year those moves changed +16.2%.
For a company in Consumer Goods & Retail, the adviser table shows where sector experience sits, which is where an in-house hire is most likely to 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 | 61-100 |
| 2 | Harter Secrest & Emery | 41-60 |
| 3 | Kirkland & Ellis | 21-40 |
| 4 | Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton | 21-40 |
| 5 | Davis Polk & Wardwell | 21-40 |
| 6 | Greenberg Traurig | 21-40 |
| 7 | Arnold & Porter | 21-40 |
| 8 | ArentFox Schiff | 21-40 |
| 9 | Sidley Austin | 21-40 |
| 10 | Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton | 21-40 |
Related monitors and reports
Deal types
Other industries
- Banks & Financial Institutions
- Financial Sponsors
- Technology & Software
- Pharma & Biotech
- Asset Management & Funds
- Real Estate
- Power & Renewables
- Food, Beverage & Agriculture
- Healthcare Providers & Payors
- Oil & Gas
- Industrial Manufacturing
- Media & Entertainment
- Utilities, Water & Waste
- Government & Public Sector
- Automotive
- Insurance
- Electronics & Semiconductors
- Medical Devices
- Mining & Metals
- Individuals & Consumers
- Hospitality & Leisure
- Aerospace & Defence
- Infrastructure
- Construction & Engineering
- Professional Services
- Fintech & Payments
- Telecommunications
- Transportation & Logistics
- Chemicals
- Sports
- Nonprofits & Charities
- Aviation
- Digital Assets & Crypto
- Education
Up one level
Working with us
Reports
- Consumer Brands Hiring In-House Counsel: Expect Senior Litigators
Intellectual property is the practice named most often on consumer and retail deals, yet the lawyers with this focus who change firms are mostly partner litigators and product liability specialists. A company hiring in-house meets a senior, dispute-trained bench, not a deal bench.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Leverage for Consumer and Retail Buyers: One Firm Leads a Level Field
One firm stands a band clear of the rest, and only four of the sector's top 10 advisers also sit in the market's top 10. For a company buying outside counsel in consumer goods and retail, that level field is leverage on price, staffing and the choice of firm.
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 general counsel and boards
Hiring a lawyer in-house?
A retained search starts with the market: who could take the role, where they sit and what it will take to move them.