Los Angeles Finance Deals Tilt to Leveraged Finance at 35.3%

Sartori & Partners data show that Los Angeles finance lawyers lateral hiring rests on a deal base that leans toward leveraged and acquisition finance. Of the 374 dated banking and finance deals that involved Los Angeles lawyers over 3 years, 35.3% were leveraged and acquisition finance and 33.2% were banking and lending. Across the practice over the last 12 months the order is reversed: banking and lending took 44.5% of finance deals and leveraged and acquisition finance 23.4%. For a firm planning its next finance partner in the city, that difference decides which profile to look for first.

Leveraged and acquisition finance carried 35.3% of Los Angeles finance deals over 3 years. In the Sartori & Partners deal records that share sits 11.9 points above the practice's 12-month share, or 1.5 times it. Banking and lending runs the other way: 33.2% in Los Angeles against 44.5% across the practice, a gap of 11.3 points.

The two windows differ, and the reading should allow for it. The Los Angeles list covers 3 years because one city's finance deals in a single year make a small base: 145 deals in the last 12 months. Project and infrastructure finance sits at 7.2% in Los Angeles against 10.7% across the practice, so the local tilt is toward acquisition debt, not toward energy or infrastructure lending. A firm adding finance capacity in Los Angeles is buying into leveraged work first: a partner who runs acquisition financings meets more of the city's deal flow than a partner whose practice is general corporate lending.

The client side points the same way. Financial sponsors were the client industry on 9.9% of Los Angeles finance deals over 3 years, the largest industry in the city's list, against 6.6% across the practice over 12 months. Banks and financial institutions show the reverse: 8.6% in Los Angeles against 17.8% across the practice, where they are the largest client industry.

Many deals carry no industry label and some carry more than one, so these shares are not a split of the work. Power and renewables sits close to the practice's level, 7.5% against 7.8%. Technology and software, at 6.4% against 4.1%, and pharma and biotech, at 5.9% against 2.6%, both weigh more in Los Angeles. Sponsor relationships are the asset to test in a Los Angeles finance candidate: a lateral who already acts on sponsor-backed financings brings work that matches the local mix, while a bank-facing lending practice matches the practice-wide mix better than the city's.

The lawyers tell a more balanced story than the deals. Among Los Angeles finance lateral moves over 3 years, Sartori & Partners records show corporate lending as the focus of 18.5% of movers and acquisition and leveraged finance as the focus of 18.0%, a gap of only 0.5 points. Private credit and direct lending follows at 11.6%. A specialty is the lawyer's own focus today, counted apart from the practice under which the move was recorded, so these shares profile who moved rather than divide the moves.

Set against the deal mix, the profile matters. Leveraged work is the larger share of Los Angeles finance deals, yet the lateral supply of leveraged finance lawyers is no larger than the supply of lending lawyers. Private credit widens the pool: direct lenders finance many of the same sponsor acquisitions that banks syndicate, so a private credit lawyer often already knows the documents. A firm that needs leveraged capacity should write the brief to include private credit and acquisition-focused lending lawyers, rather than wait for a candidate with the exact leveraged finance title.

The city is under-weight in finance hiring. Its index for banking and finance lateral moves is 67, which places finance below the city's share of all lateral moves. Finance made up 9.4% of Los Angeles lateral moves over 12 months, while litigation, at an index of 149, and employment, at 217, run well above the market in the same city.

Volume held flat on the settled 12-month windows: 59 Los Angeles finance moves and then 68, a gap inside the noise for counts this small. Over the same windows banking and finance across the practice rose 14.1%, and Los Angeles at all practices rose 21.0%.

Yearly totals stay in a narrow band: 46 moves in 2023 at the low point, 61 in 2022 at the high, and 60 in 2026 to October. The pool is steady but small, and the leveraged finance part of it is thinner still, so a Los Angeles finance search should be planned around a short list of real candidates.

Partners were 34.3% of Los Angeles finance lateral moves over 12 months, against 30.8% across the practice and 27.9% for Los Angeles at all practices. Over 3 years the cell recorded 68 partner arrivals out of 189 moves.

The market is local. At least 70.9% of Los Angeles finance arrivals over 3 years came from lawyers leaving a Los Angeles office, against 64.1% for the city at all practices. Only 14.5% of the cell's moves over 12 months involved a change of city, against 20.4% across the practice. Firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 53.0% of the cell's moves, against 63.8% across the practice, while firms of 400-999 lawyers took 27.3% against 20.6%.

Over 3 years the top 10 hirers took 30.1% of individual hires in Los Angeles finance, against 19.9% for the practice across all cities. Hiring is more concentrated locally, so a firm entering the market bids against a known group of repeat hirers.

The firms that advise most often on Los Angeles finance deals overlap only in part with the firms that hire most often there; Latham & Watkins heads the adviser list below. Read together, the two lists show where the leveraged work sits and whom a hiring firm competes with for the lawyers who do it.

Hire for the work the city does. Leveraged and acquisition finance carried 35.3% of Los Angeles finance deals against 23.4% across the practice, and financial sponsors were the largest client industry at 9.9%. A partner who runs sponsor-side acquisition financings fits the local deal flow better than one built around bank lending, which carries 33.2% of the city's deals against 44.5% across the practice.

Widen the specialty brief. Movers' focus splits 18.5% corporate lending against 18.0% leveraged finance, so a search limited to leveraged finance titles misses lending lawyers who already work on acquisition debt. Private credit lawyers, at 11.6% of movers, are the natural extension.

Expect a small, local pool. Los Angeles indexes at 67 for finance moves, the cell counted 68 moves on the settled window, and at least 70.9% of 3-year arrivals left a Los Angeles office. Most candidates already sit in the city at large firms, and 43 banking and finance openings were live on Los Angeles career pages on the data date. Approach the shortlist early and make the case on sponsor work, not on title.