Employment Lawyers in London Move Toward Firms of 400-999 Lawyers

Sartori & Partners data show that the employment lawyers London firms hired over the past three years moved toward the middle of the market by firm size. Firms of 400-999 lawyers took 47.5% of the London employment lateral moves where the new firm's size is known, while they had supplied only 23.1% of the lawyers who made those moves. At the small end the flow runs the other way: firms under 150 lawyers supplied 17.9% and received 3.8%. The figures come from public law-firm announcements, firm websites and professional profiles, checked monthly. For a firm planning its next employment hire in London, the size of the firm a candidate sits in today is a fair guide to which way the move will run and who else will be bidding.

The middle band of firms is where London employment hiring gathers. Over three years firms of 400-999 lawyers received 47.5% of moves and were the starting point for 23.1%: their share on the hiring side is 2.1 times their share on the leaving side. The largest firms run the other way, on a smaller scale. Firms of 1,000+ lawyers supplied 55.2% of moves and received 45.6%, a gap of 9.6 points. Firms of 150-399 lawyers sit at the margin, 3.7% supplied and 3.2% received, shares that rest on too few cases to read further.

The pattern belongs to employment, not to London. Across all London practices, firms of 400-999 lawyers took 26.3% of three-year moves and supplied 19.9%. In employment their hiring share is 1.8 times the city's. Across the employment practice in every market the same band took 27.7%, so London stands out against its own practice too. For a firm in that band, the competition for each London employment candidate is mostly its peers. For a firm of 1,000+ lawyers, the employment lawyers it wants are often courted by firms one size class below it, and a pitch built on scale alone will not settle the choice.

Firms under 150 lawyers are the clearest one-way source in this market. Over three years they were the starting point for 17.9% of moves with a known origin size and the destination for 3.8%: the supply share is 4.7 times the hiring share. Across all London practices, small firms supplied 8.9% and received 2.9%, so London employment draws on small firms at 2.0 times the rate of the city as a whole. The contrast with the practice is sharper still. Across the employment practice market-wide, firms under 150 lawyers took 10.2% of hires and supplied 14.1%. Elsewhere the small employment firm buys as well as sells; in London it mostly sells.

In the Sartori & Partners lateral database this is a supply line that runs in one direction. Small employment firms in London produce lawyers who then join larger platforms, and few make the reverse trip: small firms received 3.8% of hires. For a hiring firm that means small-firm employment lawyers are an open source of candidates, with little sign of their former firms bidding to take them back.

Firms of 1,000+ lawyers made 45.6% of three-year London employment hires, against 67.7% of all London hires, a gap of 22.1 points. In the latest 12 months their employment share was 50.9%, against 68.5% for London, with firms of 400-999 lawyers at 40.4%. The 12-month employment figures rest on 59 moves, so a few hires shift them by several points; the three-year reading is the steadier guide.

In most London practices the largest firms set the pace of hiring. In employment the mid-size band runs almost level with them on hiring share, 47.5% against 45.6%. A large firm building a London employment team should expect a candidate to weigh a mid-size offer seriously, because by these shares mid-size firms hire about as many of them as the largest firms do.

The second feature of the market is a thin partner tier. In the 12 months to October 2026 partners were 15.3% of London employment laterals, against 29.3% of all London moves and 22.4% across the employment practice. Over three years the London employment partner share was 12.8%, against 27.7% for the city, so the gap is not a one-year reading. Associates fill the difference, at 69.5% of 12-month moves against 60.4% in London. Over three years there were 21 lateral partner moves into London employment practices.

A firm that needs an employment partner in London is searching a small pool in which most moves happen below partner level. Counsel were 13.6% of moves, against 9.1% in the city, so a senior counsel hired with a clear route to partnership is a realistic alternative to a lateral partner. Budget more time for a partner mandate here than for one in the city's larger practices.

London employment hiring was flat: 58 moves in the latest settled 12 months against 47 in the year before, a difference that counts this small do not separate from noise. Sartori & Partners read the change as flat. London as a whole was also flat, at 1,353 against 1,387, while the employment practice market-wide rose 6.9%, to 1,537. Employment is involved in 4.5% of London lateral moves, an index of 42 against the market, far below par: the city hires employment lawyers at a lower rate than the market does.

41 firms made at least one London employment hire in 12 months, and 71 over three years, with the ten most active taking 39.6% of individual hires. For a hiring firm, steady volume gives no reason to wait for a better market; where it looks for candidates matters more than when.

Recruit from below and from the side. Small firms supplied 17.9% of London employment laterals and rarely hire them back, which makes them the most open source of candidates. Firms of 1,000+ lawyers supplied 55.2% and remain the largest pool, but a lawyer leaving one has a mid-size option that took 47.5% of hires, so an offer from a large firm competes on terms, not on name. Firms of 400-999 lawyers should expect to meet each other in many London employment searches and price offers accordingly. Plan partner mandates as long searches: partners are 15.3% of moves against 29.3% in London, and promoting a senior counsel can be the faster route. Do not hold a search for a busier market, since hiring is flat on the settled counts.