Chicago M&A Lateral Hiring Rose 49.4% While the City Held Flat

Sartori & Partners data show Chicago M&A lateral hiring rose 49.4% on the settled 12-month windows, from 77 moves to 115. Over the same months corporate and M&A hiring across the market rose 15.8%, from 2,532 to 2,933. Lateral hiring into Chicago across all practices held flat (+9.7%), from 548 to 601. The Chicago base is small, so a few lawyers move the percentage a long way, but the gap to both reference points is wide. A firm planning a Chicago corporate hire is recruiting in a market that is busier than the city's own headline suggests.

Chicago M&A added 38 moves between the two windows, while the whole of Chicago added 53. Corporate and M&A therefore took 19.1% of settled lateral moves into Chicago, up from 14.1% a year earlier. Seen from the practice, Chicago's share of corporate and M&A moves went from 3.0% to 3.9%.

Even after the rise, Chicago is not over-weight in the practice. Corporate and M&A carries an index of 96 among Chicago moves, and Chicago carries an index of 97 among the practice's cities; both sit just under par, the share the whole market would give. Chicago M&A has caught up to its normal weight rather than run past it. A firm that sized its Chicago corporate bench on last year's flow is planning against a market with 38 more moves a year.

Lateral partner moves into Chicago M&A rose 61.9%, from 21 to 34. Corporate and M&A partner moves across the market rose 12.2%, from 778 to 873. Partner hiring into Chicago across all practices held flat (-2.5%), at 159 against 163.

Chicago M&A has taken a larger slice of a city partner market that did not grow. Chicago M&A accounted for 21.4% of settled partner moves into Chicago, against 12.9% a year before. Partners make 13 of the 38 moves Chicago M&A added.

Over 12 months partners were 28.6% of Chicago M&A moves, close to 29.9% for the practice and above 26.8% for Chicago overall. Counsel were the thin layer, at 6.7% against 11.3% and 9.5%. Few moves came with a better title: 5.9% in Chicago M&A, against 12.4% across the practice and 8.4% in Chicago.

For a firm after a Chicago M&A partner, the pool is more active than a year ago, and so are the rival offers. A promotion is rarely the draw here: lawyers join at the level they left, so the case for a move has to rest on platform, pay and deal flow.

Chicago M&A recorded 93 lateral moves in 2022 and 50 in 2023, so the 2023 total was 53.8% of the year before. The practice as a whole kept 75.4% of its 2022 count, and Chicago across all practices 76.0%. Chicago M&A took the harder hit.

It has climbed in every year since: 65 in 2024, 86 in 2025 and 107 by the end of October 2026, already past the full 2025 total and past 2022. Corporate and M&A across the market has also passed its 2025 total, at 2,617 against 2,594. Chicago across all practices has not, at 529 against 565. Older years miss lawyers who have since left private practice, which lifts recent years by a few points; the swing in this group is far larger than that.

The pace has held through the latest months: 60 moves in the newest 6 months against 119 over 12 months. Treat the current level as the base for 2027 planning, not as a spike that will fade by itself.

Chicago M&A hiring runs through a short list of firms. The top 10 hirers took 39.5% of the individual hires into Chicago M&A over 12 months, against 21.6% for the practice as a whole and 21.2% for Chicago across all practices. Kirkland & Ellis ranked first, in the 6-10 band of hires.

The pattern is not new. Over 3 years the top 10 took 38.8% of individual Chicago M&A hires, against 19.7% for the practice and 21.4% for the city. In the Sartori & Partners lateral records, 54 firms hired at least one Chicago M&A lawyer in 12 months, against 148 hiring firms in Chicago overall. Among moves to firms of known size, firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 64.4% in Chicago M&A, against 62.6% for the practice and 51.2% for Chicago.

A firm outside this group recruits against a few repeat buyers with large Chicago corporate benches. Expect the candidate you want to be weighing an offer from one of them, and move on terms before that offer lands.

In the 12 months to October 2026 lawyers in Chicago worked on 1,022 dated corporate and M&A deals. The practice across the market counted 11,230, so Chicago lawyers appear on 9.1% of the practice's dated deals, while the city takes 4.1% of its lateral moves. One deal can carry lawyers in several cities, so the deal share shows where work is done, not a split of the deals.

M&A was 77.0% of Chicago M&A's dated deals over 3 years and private equity 10.5%. Private M&A was the focus of 47.5% of lawyers joining Chicago M&A groups over 3 years, joint ventures 12.5% and public M&A 7.5%. The records do not show why hiring rose; they show a Chicago bench that carries a deal load larger than its share of lateral movement.

Private M&A generalists are the deepest part of the pool. A search for public M&A experience starts from a much smaller base and should be budgeted for a longer run.

Plan on the new level. Sartori & Partners data put Chicago M&A at 115 lateral moves on the settled window, against 77 a year earlier, in a city where total hiring held flat (+9.7%). The city figure understates the competition a corporate search will meet.

Start partner searches early. Partner moves into Chicago M&A reached 34, while partner hiring across Chicago held flat (-2.5%). More of the city's partner moves now land in corporate groups, so a firm adding an M&A partner is bidding in the most active part of a still market.

Know who else is buying. With the top 10 hirers at 39.5% of individual hires, a handful of large firms set the terms for Chicago corporate talent. Career pages listed 35 open corporate and M&A roles in Chicago on the data date, against 458 openings in Chicago across all practices and 1,147 corporate and M&A openings across the market; many postings carry no practice label, so the Chicago count is a floor.