Immigration Lateral Hiring 2026: A Short List of Mid-Size Buyers

Sartori & Partners data show that immigration lawyer lateral hiring runs through a narrow channel. In the 12 months to October 2026 the practice recorded 118 lateral moves, 0.8% of all moves between law firms. Firms of 400-999 lawyers took 42.1% of them, against 23.4% across the market, and a short list of repeat hirers carried much of the volume: the top 10 took 45.7% of individual hires.

For a firm that wants to add business immigration capacity, the two facts point the same way. The competition for a candidate is not the whole market. It is a short list of firms that hire immigration lawyers again and again, and most moves land below the largest size class. The sections below set immigration against all practices and against the two practices it sits closest to in a hiring plan: employment, which shares its corporate clients, and private client, which shares its families.

Across the market, firms of 1,000+ lawyers absorb 53.6% of lateral moves, more than any other size class. Immigration reverses that order. Firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 32.7% of immigration moves, 20.9 points below the market, while firms of 400-999 lawyers took 42.1%, 18.7 points above it. The two smaller classes sit near the market: 15.9% for firms of 150-399 lawyers and 9.3% for firms under 150 lawyers.

Neither neighbor looks like this. Employment sends 46.9% of its moves to firms of 1,000+ lawyers and 25.9% to firms of 400-999 lawyers, much nearer the market split. Private client also favors firms of 400-999 lawyers, at 38.1%, but it leans toward small firms as well, with 18.9% going to firms under 150 lawyers. Immigration concentrates in the middle band and stops there.

The pattern is not a single-year effect. Over three years the Sartori & Partners lateral database holds 320 immigration moves, and firms of 400-999 lawyers took 47.8% of them, against 25.0% for the market. On the supply side the order flips: 35.8% of immigration movers came from firms of 1,000+ lawyers, while only 27.3% joined one.

For a firm of 400-999 lawyers, the main rivals for an immigration hire are its own peers, and the largest firms are as much a source of candidates as a competitor. For a firm of 1,000+ lawyers, an immigration search starts at a disadvantage: most movers in this practice choose a smaller platform, so the offer has to explain why the practice will matter inside a much larger firm.

Hiring in immigration is far more concentrated than in the market. The top 10 hirers took 45.7% of the practice's individual lateral hires, against 12.9% for the top 10 across all practices, 30.0% in employment and 20.1% in private client. In all, 67 firms hired at least one immigration lawyer in the 12 months, and 144 over three years.

Seven firms clear the publication threshold. Ogletree Deakins ranks first, in the 11-20 band of hires, and Fragomen second. Three of the names also appear among the top 10 employment hirers: Jackson Lewis, Ogletree Deakins and Fisher & Phillips. None of the seven sits in the market-wide top 10, which is ranked by Kirkland & Ellis at its head.

The concentration held over a longer window. Over three years the top 10 took 37.2% of individual immigration hires, against 12.2% for the market, and Fragomen ranked first. A firm that recruits in this practice is bidding against the same few buyers each time. Those buyers know the candidates, the rates and the reasons people leave, so an outside firm needs a clear account of the platform it offers before the first approach.

The level mix is the third way immigration stands apart. Counsel made up 24.6% of immigration lateral moves in 12 months, against 12.7% across the market, 1.9 times the market share. Partners were 22.0% of moves, against 27.7%, and associates 52.5%, against 58.5%.

Movement up the ladder is also more common. In 18.6% of immigration moves the lawyer joined at a higher title than the one left, against 12.9% market-wide and 13.5% in employment. Over three years counsel were 16.6% of immigration moves, so the 12-month counsel share sits above the practice's own longer record.

Senior non-partner titles are a normal currency here. A firm can often secure an experienced immigration lawyer with a counsel title and a stated route to partnership. A firm that offers only partner or associate slots will miss a real part of the pool.

Sartori & Partners counted 117 immigration moves in the latest settled 12-month window against 110 in the year before, so the practice held flat (+6.4%). The market rose 9.0% over the same windows, on thousands of moves. On a base of a little over a hundred moves, a gap of that size cannot be told apart from chance, so immigration is read as steady rather than as growing.

Partner hiring tells the same story with even smaller numbers. Partner hiring held flat (-27.6%), with 21 in the settled window against 29 the year before. Two counts in the twenties do not support a direction either way, and the market's partner hiring rose 8.4%.

Flat supply in a rising market means the immigration pool is not getting deeper. A firm should not expect more candidates next year and should budget the time a search takes on the current pool.

In the Sartori & Partners records, 24.2% of immigration moves with both cities known involved a change of city, against 20.5% across all practices. Over three years the share was 27.9%, against 21.6%. No single city clears the threshold for the past 12 months; over three years New York held 10.3% of immigration moves, against 14.2% of all moves, and London 6.2%, against 10.0%.

Immigration lawyers also leave for companies, moves tracked only since May 2026. Over the past six months immigration recorded 14.7 moves to companies per hundred lateral moves, against 13.1 across the market; employment stood at 12.9 and private client at 6.7.

The work is spread across many cities rather than gathered in the largest ones, and in-house teams compete for the same people. A search held to one office, or one that ignores corporate mobility teams as a rival, will see only part of the field.

First, know the size of the competition. With 42.1% of immigration moves going to firms of 400-999 lawyers, mid-size firms compete mostly with each other, and firms of 1,000+ lawyers, at 32.7%, recruit against the grain of the practice. Second, map the repeat buyers before the first call: the top 10 hold 45.7% of individual hires, so the same few firms will see most candidates. Third, offer the counsel title: counsel are 24.6% of movers here. Fourth, plan on a fixed pool, since volume held steady while the market grew. Fifth, look beyond one city and expect company legal teams to bid for the same lawyers.