Lateral Moves Rose in the Third Quarter of 2026, Carried by Summer

Lateral hiring third quarter 2026 figures run ahead of the year before. Sartori & Partners data show 3,789 lateral moves between July and September 2026, against 3,427 in the same three months of 2025. The gain was uneven. July rose 20.2% on July 2025 and August rose 30.9% on August 2025, while September fell 9.2% on September 2025. For a firm planning its next partner hire, the shape of the quarter matters as much as the total: the summer, usually the slow stretch, is where competition for candidates grew.

October is left out on purpose. It shows 926 moves so far, and the newest month always reads low because start dates at a new firm are confirmed with a delay. The third quarter is the newest one that is complete.

Month by month, 2026 reads as a strong summer followed by a softer autumn start. July 2026 counted 1,194 moves against 993 a year earlier, and August 1,258 against 961. September 2026 reached 1,337, the busiest month of the quarter, yet still short of the 1,473 recorded in September 2025.

The September comparison runs against a heavy base. In 2025 the quarter leaned on its last month: September 2025 counted 1.5 times the August before it. In 2026 the step from August to September was 79 moves, so the three months sat much closer together.

The quarter did not break from the rest of the year. From January to September 2026, lateral moves rose 10.1% against the same months of 2025: 11,628 moves against 10,560. What changed is when the extra moves happened. A firm that paused its searches over July and August sat out the months where the gain was made.

Partners followed the market upward. The third quarter of 2026 counted 973 lateral partner moves, against 900 from July to September 2025. The extra partners arrived in the summer: 311 in July against 278, and 316 in August against 266.

September is where partners and the rest of the market parted. In September 2026, 346 partners moved, against 356 in September 2025: a level count. Partners made up 25.9% of September 2026 moves, 1.7 points more than a year earlier.

In the summer months the mix ran the other way. Partners were 26.0% of July 2026 moves against 28.0% in July 2025, because associate moves grew faster: 700 against 573. For partner searches, the quarter brought steady competition in every month. The swings came from associates, and that is where a hiring plan needs slack.

The September drop came from below the partnership. Associates made 817 moves in September 2026 against 925 a year earlier, a gap of 108. Counsel moves were 160 against 177.

By practice, the gap is concentrated in two areas. Litigation & Disputes counted 484 September moves against 544, and Banking & Finance 186 against 235. Corporate & M&A went the other way, with 344 against 319, and Real Estate matched its September 2025 count at 149.

A move can carry more than one practice, so these counts overlap and do not add to the monthly total. The city picture points to Europe. London counted 149 September moves against 181, and Paris 33 against 64, while New York stayed close to its 2025 level with 223 against 229. A firm hiring litigation or finance associates for an autumn start met fewer movers than a year earlier; a firm hiring corporate lawyers met more.

Sorted by the size of the firm the lawyer joined, most of the growth went to one group. Firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 1,970 lateral moves from July to September 2026, against 1,701 a year earlier. Firms of 400-999 lawyers took fewer, 784 against 883. Firms of 150-399 lawyers barely moved, at 465 against 461, while firms under 150 lawyers took somewhat more, 360 against 318.

Each month shows the same tilt. Firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 53.8% of July 2026 moves against 49.1% in July 2025, and 58.3% of September 2026 moves against 53.3%. For a firm of 400-999 lawyers, the quarter meant hiring fewer laterals while the largest firms hired more. Expect most rival offers on a senior search to come from the largest platforms, and compete on role, client access and speed of decision.

August was the strongest month of the comparison, and one city explains a large part of it. New York counted 209 lateral moves in August 2026 against 127 in August 2025, a gap of 82 out of a market-wide August gap of 297.

Across the whole quarter, New York counted 625 moves against 516, while London came in slightly lower, 326 against 339. In New York the summer is no longer a quiet window for lateral searches: a firm that opens a mandate there in June should expect candidates to be in other conversations by August.

Dated deals moved in the same direction. Sartori & Partners recorded 12,025 dated deals from July to September 2026, against 11,449 in the same months of 2025. September deals stayed close to their 2025 level, 3,820 against 3,874, while September lateral moves fell, so the autumn dip in hiring does not mirror a dip in transactional work.

Lawyers who leave firms for companies are a separate stream. The quarter counted 523 moves in-house: 165 in July, 171 in August and 187 in September. These moves are tracked in full only from May 2026, so there is no 2025 figure to set them against. In September they equaled 14.0% of the lateral total. A firm sizing its replacement needs should count departures to companies as well as departures to other firms.

In the Sartori & Partners lateral database the third quarter of 2026 counted 3,789 moves, and the extra activity came in July and August. Four practical points follow for a firm with partner or associate searches open.

First, treat the summer as live. July and August 2026 together carried the quarter's gain; a search parked until September starts behind. Second, partner candidates move at a steady rate: 346 partners moved in September 2026 even as the wider market fell, so partner mandates need no seasonal pause. Third, expect thinner associate pools in litigation and finance for autumn starts, and a fuller corporate pool. Fourth, plan against the largest firms, which took 1,970 of the quarter's moves. And do not read the October figure as a slowdown: the settled 12 months to September 2026 counted 14,305 moves against 13,128 the year before; on that basis lateral moves rose 9.0%.