Lateral Hiring by Month: January Peaks, December Goes Quiet

Ask when do lawyers change firms and Sartori & Partners data give a plain answer: in January. January 2026 counted 1,560 lateral moves, 2.4 times the 638 of December 2025, the quietest month of that year. The same swing appears in each of the last three Januaries. For a firm planning lateral hires, the calendar is not neutral: it decides how many candidates are in motion when a search opens, and how many rival offers they hold.

Each move is counted in the month the lawyer starts at the new firm, from public law-firm announcements, firm websites and professional profiles, checked monthly. On that basis the pattern does not move. January 2024 counted 1,341 moves, 2.8 times the 473 of December 2023. January 2025 reached 1,530, 2.6 times December 2024. January 2026 added 1,560, the highest single month in the 24 months on the chart below.

The January figure has also grown with the market. January 2025 rose 14.1% against January 2024, and January 2024 rose 8.7% against January 2023. The peak is not a quirk of one strong year; it is the shape of the lateral market.

A move that starts in January is agreed weeks or months earlier, after notice periods and conflict checks. A firm that wants a lateral at its desk in January has to be in conversation with that lawyer by early autumn.

The bottom of the year is just as regular as the top. December 2025 counted 638 moves, December 2024 593 and December 2023 473. November sits between the two seasons: 899 moves in November 2025 and 840 in November 2024, each below every month from January to October of the year that followed.

Summer softens the flow, though far less than year-end. July 2025 counted 993 moves and August 2025 961, both well above December. Over the 12 months to October 2026, December 2025 held 4.5% of all lateral moves, while January 2026 alone held 11.1%.

December is a month to settle terms and fix January start dates, not to begin outreach. Searches launched in December reach a market where few lawyers are starting anywhere.

The January peak is heavier on partners than the rest of the year. Partners made up 29.7% of lateral moves in January 2024 and 30.4% in January 2025. December 2024 ran at 22.6%, 7.1 points below January 2024. Across the last 12 months partners were 27.7% of all lateral moves, so January runs above the usual mix and December below it.

In counts the swing is wider still. In January 2025, 465 partners started at a new firm, 3.5 times the 134 of December 2024, against 2.6 times for lawyers at every level. Partners commonly wait for year-end profit distributions before they resign, which pushes their start dates into the new year.

A firm that wants a lateral partner early in the year needs a signed offer before the holidays. In January the same partner is likely to be weighing competing approaches.

The second peak arrives after the summer. September 2025 counted 1,473 moves, 96.3% of the January 2025 total and 1.5 times August 2025. September 2024 counted 1,410, and September 2025 held flat (+4.5%) against it, so the autumn window held steady from one year to the next.

The mix is the reverse of January. Associates were 62.8% of September 2025 moves and 66.0% of September 2024 moves, against 58.5% over the last 12 months. Partners were 24.2% of September 2025 moves, 6.2 points below January 2025. September movers also change city more often: 24.4% did so in September 2025 and 25.4% in September 2024, against 20.5% for the last 12 months.

The autumn lift was milder in 2026. September 2026 counted 1,337 moves, just under June 2026 at 1,359, and below the September a year earlier. Firms recruiting mid-level associates should still plan interviews in early summer for a September start, and expect more of those candidates to be relocating.

Where the moves land shifts with the calendar too. In January 2025 London took 12.1% of lateral moves and New York 10.8%, so London outranked New York that month. Over the last 12 months New York held 14.8% and London 9.2%. Paris rises in both peak months: 5.5% of moves in January 2025 and 4.3% in September 2025, against 1.8% across the 12-month market.

New York leans the other way, toward the autumn: it took 15.5% of moves in September 2025 and 14.6% in September 2024. A firm hiring in London or Paris meets the most competition for candidates around the new year; in New York the September window matters almost as much.

In the Sartori & Partners lateral database the calendar is one of the steadiest facts in the market. January 2026 brought 1,560 moves, and partners make up a larger part of January than of any other month in this set. Four consequences follow for a firm planning its next lateral hire.

First, partner searches run on a January clock. Open them by early autumn, close terms before the holidays, and treat a partner still talking in January as a candidate with several offers. Second, associate searches run on a September clock, with more relocations: 24.4% of September 2025 movers changed city. Third, December is for closing, not sourcing; it counted 638 moves in 2025. Fourth, do not read the newest month as a slowdown. October 2026 shows 926 moves because start dates are confirmed with a delay, and the settled 12 months to September 2026 counted 14,305 moves against 13,128 a year earlier.