Practice monitor · November 2026
Commercial Contracts: lateral market monitor
Lawyers who changed firm in Commercial Contracts over the last 12 months: how many, at what level, where they went and which firms hired them.
The last 12 months: November 2025 to October 2026
- 118
- Lateral moves, 12 monthsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- +15.7%
- Year on yearSettled 12-month windows
- 32.2%
- Partner share of moves
- 90
- Firms that hired
What the data show
From November 2025 to October 2026, Sartori & Partners recorded 118 lateral moves in Commercial Contracts, 0.8% of all lateral moves we tracked. On settled windows the count went from 108 to 125 (+15.7%), a change inside the noise of the two counts, so we read it as flat.
Partners account for 32.2% of movers, near the market's 27.7%. Year on year partner moves alone held level (38 to 39 on settled windows, +2.6%). 18.6% of movers stepped up a level when they changed firm, against 12.9% for the market.
- Partner32.2%
- Counsel14.4%
- Associate53.4%
Lateral hires in Commercial Contracts were spread across 90 firms. The ten firms at the head of the hiring table took 26.3% of arrivals (12.9% market-wide), so hiring here is moderately concentrated. Osborne Clarke ranks first by lateral arrivals, in the 6-10 band.
City figures here cover the three years to October 2026. London ranks first among destination cities with 11.5% of arrivals. A change of city came with 25.0% of moves (market 20.5%).
For a firm planning a hire in Commercial Contracts, a flat market means candidates are not being pulled by a wave: the case for a move has to come from the platform.
Firms by rank and band
Each firm appears as a rank and a band, never an exact count, and only with at least 10 moves in the window.
| Rank | Firm | Moves (band) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Osborne Clarke | 6-10 |
| 2 | CMS | 3-5 |
| 3 | DWF | 3-5 |
| 4 | DLA Piper | 3-5 |
| 5 | Dentons | 3-5 |
| 6 | Addleshaw Goddard | 3-5 |
| Rank | Firm | Moves (band) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greenberg Traurig | 6-10 |
| 2 | Keystone Law | 3-5 |
| 3 | Spencer Fane | 3-5 |
| 4 | Fieldfisher | 3-5 |
| 5 | Dentons | 3-5 |
| 6 | Mills & Reeve | 3-5 |
| 7 | DWF | 3-5 |
Related monitors and reports
Specialities in Commercial Contracts
Other practices
- Litigation & Disputes
- Corporate & M&A
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Overlapping practices
- Corporate & M&A40.7% overlap
- Technology, Data & Privacy27.1% overlap
- Intellectual Property16.9% overlap
Hiring in this market
Reports
- Commercial Contracts Lateral Hiring 2026: Partners Grown, Not Bought
Commercial contracts is the practice where firms make the most partners for each one they hire: 1.18 promotions per lateral partner against 0.79 market-wide. Partner moves held flat at 39 against 38, and 40.7% of moves also carry corporate work.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026
Edition November 2026. Window: November 2025 to October 2026. Source: Sartori & Partners, from public law-firm announcements, firm websites and professional profiles, checked monthly. Methodology. Spot an error? [email protected].
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