San Francisco M&A Hiring: Venture Deals Are 24.3% of the Work

San Francisco corporate lateral hiring follows the city's deal flow, and that flow is unusual. Sartori & Partners data show that venture and growth financings made up 24.3% of the deals involving San Francisco corporate and M&A lawyers over 3 years, against 7.5% in New York M&A. Technology and software clients carry the same tilt, and so do the specialities the lawyers list for themselves. For a firm hiring a corporate partner or associate in the city, the useful test is less about M&A experience in general and more about whether the candidate has run company-side and investor-side venture work, because that is where a large part of the local book sits.

Over the last 3 years, San Francisco corporate and M&A lawyers worked on 3,074 dated deals. Classic M&A was 65.2% of them, against 77.9% in New York M&A over the same window. Venture and growth deals fill much of the difference: 24.3% in San Francisco, 3.2 times the New York share. Across the practice as a whole, the 12-month deal mix puts venture and growth at 10.2% and M&A at 74.6%. The windows differ, so read that line as direction only: New York M&A sits near the practice-wide mix, San Francisco sits well apart from both.

A deal can carry more than one type, so these shares overlap and are not a split of the total. Private equity shows no comparable gap: 5.2% of deals in San Francisco, 6.3% in New York and 5.1% for the practice over 12 months. The city figures point the same way. Corporate & M&A was 23.2% of San Francisco lateral moves, an index of 112 against the market, while Private Equity indexed at only 68. A San Francisco corporate candidate's deal sheet will usually show more financings and fewer sponsor buyouts than a New York sheet at the same seniority: weigh the two on the kind of work, not on deal count.

Technology and software companies were clients on 31.3% of San Francisco M&A deals over 3 years. In New York M&A the figure was 15.3%, and across the practice as a whole it was 14.0% over 12 months. The San Francisco share is 2.0 times the New York one. Pharma and biotech come second in both cities, at 12.8% against 9.0%, with 6.8% for the practice. Below those two, the San Francisco list turns to healthcare providers, fintech and semiconductors, while the New York list holds asset managers, media and banks.

The city's lateral market mirrors that client base. In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, Technology, Data & Privacy indexes at 175 in San Francisco and Intellectual Property at 292, both far above the market's share. A corporate lawyer who knows how technology companies raise money, license and sell themselves works for the same clients as the city's privacy and IP benches. Firms hiring into San Francisco corporate can test a candidate on those links: which of the candidate's technology clients also use, or could use, the firm's privacy and IP lawyers.

The tilt shows again in what the lawyers say they do. Among San Francisco M&A lateral moves over 3 years, 34.3% involved lawyers who list venture capital and startups as a speciality, against 10.8% in New York M&A, 3.2 times the share. Private M&A is level in both cities, at 36.5% and 37.1%, and public M&A is close, at 9.4% against 10.2%.

Specialities overlap like deal types: one lawyer can list several. The practice as a whole pairs corporate with buyouts instead. Across the market, 38.2% of M&A lateral moves also involved Private Equity, the practice most often recorded beside corporate. In San Francisco the venture group of movers is about as large as the private M&A group. A search brief for the city that asks only for public and private M&A leaves out the venture lawyers, and with them a large share of the people who actually change firms.

The pull reaches the top of the bench. Corporate & M&A holds an index of 139 among San Francisco lateral partner moves, against 112 at every level. Partners were 33.3% of San Francisco M&A moves over 12 months, against 29.9% for the practice as a whole and 24.9% across the city's practices. Firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 79.6% of San Francisco M&A moves, against 62.6% for the practice and 57.7% for the city.

Cooley and Latham & Watkins head the hiring list, each in the 6-10 band of hires. Several names on it also appear among the firms on the most San Francisco M&A deals over 3 years, a list headed by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in the 401-700 band of deals. For a firm outside this group, a corporate partner hire in San Francisco competes with large platforms that already act for the venture clients, so the offer has to explain what the candidate's clients gain from the move.

Volume moved with the mix. San Francisco M&A hiring rose 50.7% year on year, to 104 moves in the latest settled 12 months from 69. M&A hiring across the market rose 15.8%, to 2,933 from 2,532, and hiring across all San Francisco practices rose 30.1%, to 462 from 355. The New York M&A count rose 25.5% over the same windows. The San Francisco base is small, and the counts do not show why it grew; they show that the extra demand landed in a market whose work leans to venture and technology. Partner hiring in the cell rose 60.9%, to 37 from 23.

Recruit for venture experience first. With venture and growth at 24.3% of local M&A deals and venture capital at 34.3% of mover specialities, a candidate without company-side financing work misses a large part of the local book. Read New York M&A candidates with care: their market puts venture and growth at 7.5% of deals, so a lateral from New York needs a technology client base to bring, or time to build one.

Expect competition at partner level. Corporate & M&A partners index at 139 in the city, and firms of 1,000+ lawyers take 79.6% of the moves, so a corporate partner search here runs against the large platforms in the list above. Plan the bench around technology clients, who sit on 31.3% of the deals, and around pharma and biotech at 12.8%. A sponsor-side M&A practice can be built in the city, but the San Francisco data give it less local deal flow to feed on than the venture side.