Which Law Firms Do Technology Companies Use in 2026?

Growth-stage companies comparing law firms for technology companies are shopping in a market built on breadth. Sartori & Partners data show 3,279 technology and software deals in the 12 months to October 2026, spread across 1,713 distinct clients, the widest client base of any sector we track. Financial sponsors come next with 1,588 clients, then pharma and biotech with 1,359 and banks with 1,314. Many buyers, each doing fewer deals, at smaller disclosed values: that is the shape of the sector, and it changes what a company should ask a firm before it signs an engagement letter.

The ratio of deals to clients shows how concentrated a sector's buying is. Each technology and software client accounted for 1.9 deals on average over 12 months. In banks and financial institutions the figure is 2.6, in pharma and biotech 2.4, among financial sponsors 2.1, and in oil and gas 2.5. Banks and drug developers return to the same firms for repeat issuance, and sponsors come back with each new acquisition. The technology figure points to a long tail of companies that come to market rarely, alongside a smaller group of frequent buyers.

For a growth-stage company this cuts both ways. Firms active in the sector take on a steady stream of new clients, so an early-stage company is one of many and has to earn partner attention. The same firms are used to onboarding companies with no legal history, and much of the early work is standardized: financing rounds, option plans, commercial templates. Ask a shortlisted firm how many companies at your stage its team advised last year, not how many technology deals the whole firm closed.

The mix of work is the second difference. Venture and growth financings are 15.3% of technology and software deals, against 3.8% across all sectors, or 4.0 times the market's share. Among the other large sectors none comes close: venture work is 8.1% of financial sponsor deals and 6.0% of pharma and biotech deals. M&A is heavier than in the market too, at 30.0% against 19.3%, while capital markets at 23.3% and disputes and investigations at 16.9% sit below the market's 25.7% and 25.0%.

The lawyers on these deals reflect the mix. Corporate and M&A lawyers appear on 47.8% of technology deals, against 23.3% across the market. Venture rounds recur: a company that raises once usually raises again, and the firm that papered the first round holds the cap table, the investor rights and the history. Picking venture counsel is closer to picking a long-term adviser than buying a single transaction, and switching later costs time in diligence. Choose the firm you expect to keep through a sale or a listing.

Where a value is disclosed, technology deals are smaller. The median disclosed technology and software deal was $250 million over the past 12 months, against $660 million for banks and financial institutions, $700 million for financial sponsors and $750 million for oil and gas. Pharma and biotech is the one large sector level with technology, also at $250 million. Values are disclosed for only 25.5% of technology deals, so the median describes the deals that carry a public number, not the private rounds that do not.

Smaller deals set a ceiling on what a client will pay. A firm whose cost base is built for large public-company transactions will often staff a modest financing the way it staffs a large one. Ask for a fee quote by transaction type before the engagement, and ask which parts of a standard round the firm runs on a fixed fee.

In the Sartori & Partners deal record, the most active firm on technology and software deals is Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, in the 151-250 deal band, with Latham & Watkins and Davis Polk & Wardwell in the same band. Below them the list steps down one band at a time: Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, Fenwick & West and Cooley sit in the 101-150 band, and the last four firms in the 61-100 band. The all-sector table has a different head, with Latham & Watkins, Davis Polk & Wardwell and Kirkland & Ellis in its first three places. Only four technology names reach the market's top 10 as well, Latham & Watkins, Davis Polk & Wardwell, Kirkland & Ellis and DLA Piper, and the firm in first place on technology deals, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, is not among them.

The Bay Area is not unique to technology. Lawyers in San Francisco worked on 18.1% of technology deals, behind New York at 38.7% and Washington, DC at 19.6%. Pharma and biotech draws on San Francisco almost as much, at 17.7% of its deals, and Palo Alto shows the same pattern, at 10.5% of technology deals against 9.1% of pharma deals. One deal can count in several cities, so these shares overlap and add to more than the whole. A San Francisco office alone says little about a firm's technology volume; the sector's firm list is the better guide.

For a growth-stage company, the choice is not between the market's busiest deal firms and everyone else: Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, outside the market's top 10, shares the top band of this list with Latham & Watkins and Davis Polk & Wardwell, which are inside it. Ask each shortlisted firm which partners run venture financings week to week, and which teams would take on capital markets, cross-border M&A and regulatory work once the company prepares for a listing or a large sale. If one firm cannot name partners for both, start with the team that runs the rounds and add a second firm when that work comes into view.

Volume is the one measure where technology trails. Technology and software deals went from 3,136 to 3,279 between the two most recent settled 12-month windows, a change of 4.6% that reads as flat. Across all sectors, deals rose 10.6%, from 43,590 to 48,216. Pharma and biotech rose 14.5% and banks 7.2% on the same basis.

The lawyers are moving more than the work. Lateral moves by lawyers with a technology focus rose 18.3%, from 361 to 427. Of those who moved in the past 12 months, 41.8% carry an intellectual property practice, an index of 564 against the market's share. Flat demand against a growing market suggests technology teams have spare capacity, which gives a buyer room on staffing and fees. Rising movement means the partner who pitched you may sit at another firm by your next round: ask who else on the team knows your file.

Shortlist by stage, not by sector rank. With 1,713 technology clients spread across the firms, the useful question is how often a team acts for companies of your size and funding stage. Treat venture counsel as a multi-round hire: venture and growth work is 15.3% of the sector's deals, and the firm that runs your early rounds holds the documents every later investor will read. Price against your ticket size, since a median disclosed deal of $250 million sits well below the figures for banks or sponsors, and a fee structure built for those sectors does not fit. Plan the hand-off early: when a listing or cross-border sale comes into view, ask whether the firm that ran your rounds can staff it, and test it against a firm that sits in both the sector's and the market's top 10. Sartori & Partners figures come from public law-firm announcements, firm websites and professional profiles, checked monthly.