Lateral Hiring Over 3 Years: 1,886 Firms, Only 1,291 in 12 Months

Ask about law firm lateral hiring trends over three years and the first thing the longer view reveals is how many firms dip in and out of the market. Sartori & Partners data show 1,886 law firms made at least one lateral hire in the 3-year window, against 1,291 in the latest 12 months. Over the same three years, 39,809 lawyers moved from one firm to another. The 12 months sit inside the 3 years, so the two windows are not rival measures of growth. Read side by side, they separate what is steady in lateral hiring from what belongs to this year: who hires, how much the busiest firms take, the weight of partner moves, the cities in demand, and where the candidates come from.

The gap between the two firm counts is 595 firms. Because the latest 12 months are part of the 3-year window, each of those firms hired in the 3-year window but not in the latest 12 months. Only 68.5% of the firms that hired over three years also hired in the latest 12 months, so about a third of the hiring field is occasional rather than constant.

Volume is less spread out in time than the firm count. The latest 12 months alone hold 35.4% of all moves in the 3-year window, more than an even share of the three years. That fits the settled year-on-year figure: lateral moves rose 9.0%, from 13,128 to 14,305. Volume grew while a wide fringe of firms came and went.

For a hiring partner, the practical point is that the field of rival bidders is wider than one year shows. A candidate interviewing today may also hear from a firm that made no lateral hire last year and has a reason to hire now. A competitor map built on the 3-year list, not the 12-month one, avoids surprises late in a search.

In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, the ten firms that hired most over three years took 12.2% of all moves, against 12.9% for the ten busiest firms of the latest 12 months. The gap is 0.7 points. Part of it comes from the window itself: a 12-month ranking rewards firms having an unusually heavy year, and over three years those peaks average out.

Part of it is change at the top of the list. Kirkland & Ellis ranks 1st over three years and 1st in the latest 12 months, and the first six firms of the 3-year ranking all sit in the 401-700 band of hires. Hogan Lovells Cadwalader and Norton Rose Fulbright, 8th and 10th over three years, do not appear in the 12-month top 10. The 12-month list instead holds Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, 7th and 10th, and neither is in the 3-year ranking.

For a firm benchmarking its own lateral program, the 3-year ranking is the steadier peer set. A place in one 12-month top 10 can reflect a single busy year; a place across three years marks the firms a candidate will meet search after search.

Partners made up 27.7% of lateral moves in the latest 12 months, against 26.9% across three years. The calendar years point the same way: partners were 25.7% of moves in 2024, 27.2% in 2025 and 28.2% in 2026 to October. Associates slipped from 59.2% of moves over three years to 58.5% in the latest 12 months.

The step-up rate barely moved: 12.9% of moves in the latest 12 months were to a higher title, against 12.3% over three years. With step-ups steady, the extra partner weight points to partners moving as partners, not to associates and counsel promoted on arrival.

The practice mix tilts toward transactions. Corporate and M&A work was involved in 20.7% of moves in the latest 12 months, against 19.2% over three years, and private equity in 8.8% against 8.2%. Litigation and disputes went the other way, 39.9% against 41.0%. One move can involve several practices, so these shares overlap and are read one practice at a time.

A partner search in a deal practice now competes in a busier segment than the 3-year average suggests. Expect corporate and private equity partners to weigh more than one offer, and set timelines and terms on the current mix rather than the longer record.

The size of the firm each lawyer left tells a story that the joining side hides. Firms under 150 lawyers were the origin of 11.4% of lateral moves over three years, but the destination of only 8.6%, a gap of 2.8 points. Put as a ratio, they supplied 1.3 times the share they absorbed, the highest ratio of the four size classes.

Firms of 1,000+ lawyers also send out more than they take in: they were 56.6% of the firms left and 52.5% of the firms joined, a gap of 4.1 points but only 1.1 times on their much larger base. The mid-size classes take in more than they release, in share terms. Firms of 400-999 lawyers took 25.0% of arrivals against 20.3% of departures, and firms of 150-399 lawyers 13.9% against 11.7%. The latest 12 months leave the joining side close to the 3-year picture, with firms under 150 lawyers taking 9.7% of arrivals.

For firms of 400-999 lawyers and 150-399 lawyers, small firms are the deepest pool the market offers relative to what that pool hires back. A search brief that screens out small-firm lawyers by default discards the class that, over three years, sent out the most talent against what it took back.

City shares shift between the two windows, and each shift lines up with the city's own settled trend. London held 10.0% of arrivals over three years but 9.2% in the latest 12 months; its settled count held flat (-2.5%), from 1,387 to 1,353. Paris shows the gap more sharply, 2.3% over three years against 1.8% now, after its settled count fell 20.5%, from 347 to 276.

New York runs the other way, from 14.2% of arrivals over three years to 14.8% in the latest 12 months, as its settled count rose 11.9%, from 1,862 to 2,084. Washington, DC moved from 5.2% to 5.6%, with a settled count that rose 12.4%, from 677 to 761. Lawyers also relocated a little less often: 20.5% of movers with both cities known changed city in the latest 12 months, against 21.6% over three years.

A London or Paris search planned on a 3-year picture will expect more candidates in play than the current year delivers. In New York and Washington, DC the latest 12 months are the better guide, and competition for each candidate there is stiffer than the longer average implies.

Map rivals over three years, not one. With 595 firms that hired in the 3-year window but not in the latest 12 months, the set of firms that may bid for your candidate is wider than this year's list of hirers.

Use the 3-year ranking as the peer set. A top 10 share of 12.2% across three years means lateral supply is spread over many buyers, and the firms that hold a top place across the whole window are the ones to benchmark offers against.

Plan partner searches on the current weight. Partners are 27.7% of lateral moves now, above the 3-year share, and deal practices carry more of the movement, so expect more competing offers for corporate and private equity partners.

Recruit from small firms on purpose. They were the origin of 11.4% of lateral moves over three years and took back only 8.6% of arrivals, so their lawyers are already moving.

Weight city plans to the latest 12 months where a city's settled count has stalled or fallen, as in London and Paris, and read both windows together everywhere else. Sartori & Partners update both views with each edition, from public law-firm announcements, firm websites and professional profiles, checked monthly.