Funds Deals 2026: Work Flat, Lateral Hiring Up 23.7%

Funds lawyers demand in 2026 is running well ahead of the work behind it. Sartori & Partners data show 1,221 dated funds deals in the 12 months to October 2026, for 772 distinct clients. On settled 12-month windows the funds deal count held flat (+2.8%). Lateral hiring into the practice rose 23.7% over the same windows, and partner hiring rose 29.7%. No other deal practice in our records shows a wider gap between total lateral hiring and deal flow. For a firm leader, the price of a funds partner is now being set by rivals' hiring plans, not by a surge in mandates.

The funds deal count held flat (+2.8%): 1,191 dated deals in the 12 months to September 2025, 1,224 in the 12 months to September 2026. All dated deals rose 10.6% over the same windows, and private equity deals rose 10.4%, so funds work stood still while the deal market around it grew.

Hiring did not stand still. Lateral moves into funds went from 507 to 627 on the same settled windows, while lateral hiring across all practices rose 9.0%. Set against a flat deal line, the funds hiring rate sits 20.9 points above the deal rate.

More lawyers chasing the same volume of mandates changes the economics of a hire. A partner who moves now joins a platform that has to win work from another firm, because the pool of funds deals is not getting deeper. Test each candidate's book against clients who would follow, not against growth in the market.

Sartori & Partners records show 214 lateral partner moves into funds in the 12 months to September 2026, against 165 a year earlier: partner hiring rose 29.7%. Across all practices lateral partner hiring rose 8.4%, and in private equity it rose 16.1%.

The level mix leans senior as well. Partners were 36.7% of funds lateral moves in the 12 months to October 2026, against 27.7% across the market, and associates 51.7% against 58.5%. Firms are buying partners with client relationships rather than growing funds teams from the associate tier.

That is where the pressure lands. Each partner hire in a flat work market lifts the price of the next one, and the candidates with portable fund clients are the ones every rival is calling. A firm planning a funds partner hire should expect competing offers and a longer search than the deal figures alone would suggest.

Fund formation accounts for 39.1% of funds deals, against 1.3% of all dated deals. The practice is credited on 78.9% of every fund formation recorded in the 12 months, so this work seldom goes to lawyers outside it. M&A follows at 9.8% of funds deals and capital markets at 5.7%.

Where a value is published, the median funds deal is $1,100 million, against $425 million in private equity. 25.1% of funds deals disclose a value, compared with 10.5% of private equity deals, so the funds median rests on a wider base of published figures.

Fund sponsors tend to return to the same counsel for each successor fund, so a formation book follows the partner who runs the relationship. That makes formation partners the scarce hire, and their client list the first thing to examine in diligence.

In the Sartori & Partners deal records, asset managers and funds appear in 64.3% of funds deals, against 4.9% of all dated deals. Financial sponsors appear in 29.3%, against 6.9% across the market, and real estate clients in 2.4%. One deal can involve more than one client group, so the shares overlap and are not added.

The private equity practice mirrors that mix. Sponsors appear in 83.9% of its deals and asset managers in only 3.1%. The two practices serve the same capital from opposite ends: funds lawyers raise it and structure the vehicle, private equity lawyers deploy it in companies.

For a hire, the client mix sets the test. A candidate whose book rests on asset managers serves the larger part of the work. A sponsor-side funds partner overlaps with the firm's own private equity group, which can be an asset or a conflict, and should be priced with that overlap in mind.

Firms with 1,000+ lawyers took 75.8% of funds lateral hires in the 12 months to October 2026, against 53.6% across all practices. Firms of 400-999 lawyers took 15.0%, and firms under 150 lawyers only 3.9%. The top 10 funds hirers alone took 34.0% of moves, against 12.9% for the top 10 across the market.

Kirkland & Ellis ranks first by funds deals advised, in the 101-150 band, and also first among all funds lateral hirers, in the 21-40 band. The partner list is spread thin: Paul Hastings heads it in the 6-10 band, and the top 10 partner hirers together took 28.9% of partner moves.

A mid-sized firm competes for funds partners against platforms that already hold the fund clients. Its offer has to be specific: a lead role on formation work the partner cannot get at a larger rival, or clients a larger platform is conflicted out of serving.

Do not read the hiring wave as a deal boom. The funds deal count held flat (+2.8%) on settled windows while lateral hiring rose 23.7%. Rivals are building capacity ahead of the work, so a new partner will take mandates from another firm rather than from a growing market.

Hire for fund formation. It is 39.1% of funds deals, the practice handles 78.9% of all formation work, and the median disclosed funds deal is $1,100 million. Read the client list before the deal list: asset managers appear in 64.3% of funds deals.

Plan for a long partner search. Partner hiring rose 29.7%, and firms with 1,000+ lawyers take 75.8% of funds laterals. A firm outside that class should start with the partners its larger rivals cannot place well: those with client conflicts, or with books priced below a large platform's billing rates.