Corporate & M&A in Sydney: lateral monitor

Sartori & Partners data show 30 lateral moves in Corporate & M&A in Sydney from November 2025 to October 2026, 1.0% of the practice's moves. On settled windows the count went from 42 to 29 (-31.0%), a change inside the noise of the two counts, so we read it as flat.

Over the three years to October 2026, 90 lawyers moved in Corporate & M&A in Sydney, 31 of them partners (34.4%). They joined 27 different firms. 7.8% stepped up a level on the move and 21.1% changed city, against 12.3% and 21.6% across the market over the same three years. 64.9% came from firms with 1,000+ lawyers.

At 46.7%, the partner share of arrivals sits above the market's 27.7%.

The 12-month firm table is below our naming threshold, so this part reads the three years to October 2026. Lateral hires in Corporate & M&A in Sydney were spread across 27 firms. The ten firms at the head of the hiring table took 65.9% of arrivals (12.2% market-wide), so hiring here is concentrated. First on the hiring table is White & Case, with arrivals in the 6-10 band.

The practice accounts for 27.5% of all lateral moves in Sydney. Over the three years to October 2026, 62.2% of movers came from another firm in Sydney itself. A change of city came with 22.2% of moves (market 20.5%).

For a firm planning a hire in Corporate & M&A in Sydney, a flat market means candidates are not being pulled by a wave: the case for a move has to come from the platform.

Sartori & Partners data count 175 dated deals in Corporate & M&A in Sydney in the 12 months to October 2026 and 494 over the three years to October 2026.

M&A work is involved in 82.4% of them and Private equity in 4.9%.

By client industry, Mining & Metals comes first with 10.5%.

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer ranks first among advising firms over the period, in the 61-100 band.