Financial Services Regulatory Deals 2026: Work and Hiring Both Rose

For financial services regulatory law firms, the past year brought more files and more partners at the same time. Sartori & Partners data show 232 financial services regulatory matters in the 12 months to September 2026, against 169 in the 12 months before: the count rose 37.3%. The whole record of dated deals rose 10.6% over the same windows. Lateral partner hiring into the practice moved with the work rather than behind it, and the client mix explains much of the pull: banks remain the core, while crypto and payments businesses take a far larger part of this practice than of the deal record overall. For a firm deciding whether to add regulatory partners now, the question is less whether demand exists than which client base a candidate brings.

The settled comparison is the one to quote. Financial services regulatory matters went from 169 to 232, a change that rose 37.3%. All dated deals went from 43,590 to 48,216 and rose 10.6%. The practice therefore grew 3.5 times as fast as the record it sits in. Its closest transactional neighbor, banking and finance, rose 12.1% on the same basis, from 2,710 to 3,039.

The bars show where the volume sits, not a long growth curve: earlier years drew on fewer firms, so only the year-on-year comparison above carries a direction. The base is small in absolute terms, which matters for planning. A practice of a few hundred recorded matters a year can absorb one or two partner hires and feel the difference in coverage, where a practice of thousands would not notice them.

For a firm leader, the consequence is timing. Work that grows several times faster than the market does not wait for an annual hiring plan, and teams already in place will be stretched before the next budget cycle.

Lateral partners joining the practice went from 82 to 115, a count that rose 40.2%. Hiring at all levels rose 19.6%, from 204 to 244 moves, so firms tilted their recruiting toward partners. Partners made up 47.9% of the 234 lawyers who joined another firm in this practice in the 12 months to October 2026.

In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, the movers overlap heavily with two neighbors: 30.8% of these moves also carry litigation and disputes, and 23.9% carry banking and finance. That fits the work itself, which is part enforcement and part advice to lenders. Large platforms took the largest share of the hires: firms of 1,000+ lawyers received 66.7% of them.

The partner market is spread out. 109 firms hired into the practice, and the ten most active took 37.8% of partner moves. No single buyer sets the price, which gives a well-prepared firm room to compete, but it also means a good candidate will usually hear from several firms at once. Move quickly once a candidate is identified.

Banks and financial institutions appear in 51.5% of financial services regulatory matters, against 7.1% of all dated deals. The striking line is the next one. Digital assets and crypto businesses appear in 16.0% of the practice's matters and in only 0.6% of all deals, an over-weight of 26.7 times. Fintech and payments companies add 12.2%, against 1.0% across the record.

Seen from the other side, this practice holds 12.7% of every dated deal that involves a crypto business, a large slice for a practice this size. Banking and finance, by comparison, draws 17.8% of its deals from banks, and digital assets do not appear among its largest client industries. The regulatory practice is where newer financial businesses meet their supervisors.

When you assess a candidate, separate the two books. A partner whose clients are deposit-taking banks brings long, steady supervisory relationships. A partner built on crypto and payments brings faster growth with more swing in it. Both are valuable, but they price differently and fit different platforms.

Disputes and investigations account for 42.6% of the practice's records, against 25.0% of all dated deals. Many come from public court and agency filings, which is why this report calls them matters. Regulatory and antitrust work makes up another 21.1%, and this single practice carries 24.2% of every regulatory and antitrust record in the whole deal set.

Behind the 237 matters of the 12 months to October 2026 stand 133 distinct clients, or 1.8 matters per client. A value is disclosed on only 2.5% of them, against 47.7% in banking and finance: this is advisory and contested work, not priced transactions. Because counts include court records, they show matters on file, not fees.

Read this as a hiring brief. A financial services regulatory partner who adds the most to a platform can run an investigation and advise a board in the same week. Test candidates on both, and ask how much of their book comes from enforcement and how much from licensing and supervisory advice.

Washington, DC took 15.0% of the practice's lateral moves, an index of 268 against the market's share of that city. London stood at 11.1% and New York at 11.5%. On the work side, Sartori & Partners records Troutman Pepper Locke first among advisers on financial services regulatory matters, in the 11-20 band.

Several names sit on both lists, among them Sidley Austin and DLA Piper: firms that do the work also recruit for it. For a firm outside both lists, a single well-chosen partner hire in Washington is the fastest route into the matter flow.

First, the window is open now. Matters rose 37.3% and partner hiring rose 40.2%, so competitors are already buying. A firm that waits a year will recruit against a higher price and a thinner pool.

Second, recruit for the client base, not the title. With digital assets at 16.0% and fintech at 12.2% of the work, a candidate's mix of bank and non-bank clients tells you more about future billings than seniority does. Third, look first in Washington, DC and at partners who already straddle enforcement and advice. Fourth, expect competition from large platforms, which took most of the moves, and plan a decision within weeks rather than months.