Capital Markets Deals 2026: Two Client Pillars, a Flat Partner Bench

Capital markets law firm deal volume is the clearest guide to where issuer and underwriter work sits, and Sartori & Partners data show 12,684 dated capital markets deals in the 12 months to October 2026. That is 26.4% of all dated deals in our records, while the same practice accounts for 4.3% of lateral moves. The work rests on two client groups of almost equal size, the deal count is still climbing, and the partner bench that serves it has not grown. For a firm leader, that combination decides whether a capital markets hire is a growth bet or a capacity fix.

Banks and financial institutions appear in 13.8% of capital markets deals; pharma and biotech appear in 13.7%. The gap between them is 0.1 points, or 11 deals in a year. Across all dated deals, banks hold 7.1% and pharma 6.8%. In capital markets each group therefore runs at 1.9 and 2.0 times its weight in the wider deal market. Shares overlap, because a single deal can touch more than one industry, so they are read side by side and never added.

No third client group comes close. Technology and software, the next industry on the list, appears in 6.2% of capital markets deals, so each pillar's share is about 2.2 times that of technology, the third industry. Financial sponsors, which appear in 6.9% of all deals, do not make the capital markets industry list shown above. The sibling practice shows how unusual the pharma pillar is: in banking and finance, banks appear in 17.8% of deals and pharma in 2.6%.

For a firm building capital markets capacity, the consequence is direct. A team built around one pillar leaves the other, of nearly equal size, to the firms that cover it. A partner with a life sciences issuer base is as central to this practice as one with a bank-side book.

Sartori & Partners records show capital markets deal counts rose 10.0%, from 11,838 in the 12 months to September 2025 to 13,024 in the 12 months to September 2026. All dated deals rose 10.6% over the same windows, so the practice kept pace with the wider deal market rather than outrunning it.

Partner hiring moved differently. The lateral partner count in capital markets held flat (+1.1%), with 185 partners against 183 on the same settled windows. Lateral hiring at all levels held flat (+6.7%), with 609 moves against 571. Firms have added what capacity they could below partner level: associates make up 56.5% of lateral moves in the practice, partners 31.5%.

The outcome is more deals for a senior bench of roughly the same size. A firm that needs a capital markets partner competes for a pool that stayed level while deal demand grew. Expect a longer search, and start it before the pipeline needs the hire, not after.

Where a value is published, the median capital markets deal is $563.2 million, against $545 million in banking and finance. The comparison rests on fewer deals than it seems: only 29.5% of capital markets deals carry a disclosed value, against 47.7% in banking and finance.

Client spread separates the practice more than ticket size. In the Sartori & Partners deal records, 4,924 distinct clients stand behind capital markets deals in 12 months, about 2.6 deals per client, against 2.3 in banking and finance. Issuers return within the year for follow-on offerings, debt programs and refinancings.

For pricing a lateral hire, that matters more than the size of any one deal. The value of a capital markets partner is the number of issuers and underwriters who come back, and a book that renews is worth more than a list of one-off mandates.

Davis Polk & Wardwell ranks first by capital markets deals advised, in the 701-1200 band, with Latham & Watkins in the same band. On the hiring side, Latham & Watkins ranks first among capital markets lateral hirers. The top 10 hirers take 25.0% of the practice's lateral moves and 25.3% of its partner moves, and 201 firms hired at least one capital markets lawyer. Most hiring happens well beyond the firms that advise on the most deals.

A firm outside the adviser list can still build a capital markets bench by hiring. It competes, though, against firms whose deal flow it cannot yet match, so the case to a candidate rests on the clients the partner will serve, banks or life sciences issuers, not on volume.

Hire to a pillar. With banks in 13.8% and pharma in 13.7% of capital markets deals, a lateral partner's worth depends on which of the two client groups the book serves and whether the firm already covers it. A second partner on the pillar a firm already holds adds less than a first one on the other.

Move early. Deal counts rose 10.0% while lateral partner hiring held flat (+1.1%), so the same partners carry the extra deals. A search that opens when the pipeline is already full opens late, and the candidate will weigh a move against a busy year at the current firm.

Recruit where the work is. New York takes 25.0% of capital markets lateral moves, an index of 169 against the market, and London takes 11.0%. Price the book by repeat clients, not by headline deal values, because a disclosed median covers only part of the deals.