Mining Lawyers Move Up When They Move: Far Above the Market Rate

A general counsel hiring a mining lawyer out of private practice is bidding against more than a salary. Sartori & Partners data show that over 36 months 19.1% of lawyers with a mining and metals focus who changed firms joined the new firm at a higher title, against 12.3% across all lateral moves in the same window. The movers are senior: partners made up 57.4% of them. Their work runs across projects, corporate and regulatory practice, and London is their first city of arrival. This report sets those 36-month figures against the whole market, against oil and gas and infrastructure, and against the moves lawyers make from firms into companies. The deal side of the sector, who advises and where the work is done, is covered in our companion report on mining outside counsel.

Over the 36 months to October 2026, 19.1% of mining lateral moves came with a higher title: an associate joining as counsel or partner, or a counsel joining as partner. Across all lateral moves the 36-month rate was 12.3%, a gap of 6.8 points. The neighboring resource and project sectors sit between the two, at 14.7% in oil and gas and 17.0% in infrastructure over the same window. Of the three sectors, mining has the highest step-up rate.

The latest 12 months point the same way on a much smaller base. In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, 27.3% of the 44 mining moves in the 12 months to October 2026 were step-ups, against 12.9% for the market. That share rests on few cases, so read it as a rough size, not a new level; the 36-month figure carries the finding. For a company the consequence is direct. A mining lawyer who leaves a firm has a real chance of a better title at the next one, and an in-house offer that matches pay but not standing starts behind it.

Partners made up 57.4% of mining lateral moves over 36 months, against 26.9% of all moves. Associates were 27.9% of mining movers and 59.2% market-wide, and counsel 14.7% against 12.1%. Oil and gas and infrastructure look alike on this measure, with partners at 56.6% and 56.4% of their movers. A partner-heavy lateral market is a trait the resource sectors share; the higher step-up rate belongs to mining.

Set that against the lawyers who leave firms for companies. Between May and October 2026, across all sectors, partners were 11.0% of the moves from law firms into companies and associates 76.7%. Companies mostly hire associates out of firms, while the mining lateral market is mostly partners changing firms. A company that wants a senior mining lawyer is reaching into the part of the market where moves in-house are least common, and should plan the search time with that in mind.

Over 36 months, projects and infrastructure lawyers and corporate and M&A lawyers each made up 37.5% of mining movers. Litigation followed at 27.9%, regulatory and compliance at 25.0%, environment and sustainability at 17.6% and international arbitration at 14.7%. One lawyer can carry several practices, so these shares overlap and are read one at a time. Against the market the mix tilts hard: projects and infrastructure lawyers were 3.9% of all lateral moves and corporate lawyers 19.2%, while litigation, the largest practice market-wide at 41.0%, carries less weight in mining.

Oil and gas draws on a similar mix, with projects lawyers at 36.4% of its movers, but regulatory work weighs more in mining: 25.0% against 17.8%. For a company, the brief should name the problem to solve, whether permitting, offtake, project finance or a listing, rather than a single practice label. A search confined to one practice group misses much of the field.

Sartori & Partners figures put London at 19.9% of mining lateral arrivals over 36 months, 2.0 times its 10.0% share of all moves. London was also the city mining movers most often left, at 16.9% of moves against 7.4% for the market. No other city had enough mining moves to be published on its own. Oil and gas has a different center, with Houston taking 25.6% of its moves and London 14.7%; infrastructure sits closer to mining, with London at 18.9%.

Mining movers also tend to stay where they are. Only 14.3% of those whose cities are known changed city with the move over 36 months, against 21.6% across the market. The practical reading: a company with its legal team in London recruits from a local bench, while a regional head office should expect to fund a relocation or offer a hybrid role, because mining lawyers relocate less often than lawyers in general.

The count of mining lateral moves held flat (-8.2%) year on year, at 45 in the settled 12-month window against 49 the year before. Partner moves were steady too, at 29 against 26. Over the same windows, all lateral moves rose 9.0%. Lateral moves are one hiring channel, so a steady count says nothing about a thinner bench.

Where those lawyers land is concentrated. The top 10 hirers took 34.6% of mining moves over 36 months, against 12.2% for the market's top 10 and 27.2% in oil and gas. Firms of 400-999 lawyers received 40.7% of mining movers against 25.0% of all movers. These firms are a company's direct competition for the same candidates.

Lead with the title. Over 36 months 19.1% of mining movers stepped up a title against 12.3% market-wide, so a candidate will weigh an in-house offer against firm offers that may carry a promotion. Make the role's standing explicit: the reporting line, the title, and a path to the general counsel seat. Pay alone does not close the gap that a partnership offer opens.

Search where the movers are. With partners at 57.4% of mining movers and London at 19.9% of arrivals, a senior hire usually means approaching partners, and London is the first market to map. Write the brief around the problem, because the sector's lawyers spread across projects, corporate, regulatory and contentious practice rather than one group. And allow time: partners were only 11.0% of the lawyers who left firms for companies between May and October 2026, so a senior move in-house is the exception the company has to create.