Practice monitor · November 2026
Intellectual Property: lateral market monitor
Lawyers who changed firm in Intellectual Property over the last 12 months: how many, at what level, where they went and which firms hired them.
The last 12 months: November 2025 to October 2026
- 1,044
- Lateral moves, 12 monthsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- +7.2%
- Year on yearSettled 12-month windows
- 34.4%
- Partner share of moves
- 352
- Firms that hired
What the data show
Sartori & Partners data show 1,044 lateral moves in Intellectual Property from November 2025 to October 2026, 7.4% of all lateral moves we tracked. On settled windows the count went from 987 to 1,058 (+7.2%), a change inside the noise of the two counts, so we read it as flat.
Partners make up 34.4% of arrivals, against 27.7% across the market: a partner-heavy flow. On settled windows partner moves alone went from 326 to 352 (+8.0%), a change inside the noise of the two counts, so we read it as flat. A step up in title came with 12.6% of moves (market 12.9%).
Latest: 67 in Oct 26
Show the numbers
| Month | Value |
|---|---|
| Nov 24 | 69 |
| Dec 24 | 57 |
| Jan 25 | 104 |
| Feb 25 | 83 |
| Mar 25 | 82 |
| Apr 25 | 99 |
| May 25 | 74 |
| Jun 25 | 92 |
| Jul 25 | 74 |
| Aug 25 | 76 |
| Sep 25 | 111 |
| Oct 25 | 81 |
| Nov 25 | 72 |
| Dec 25 | 42 |
| Jan 26 | 128 |
| Feb 26 | 83 |
| Mar 26 | 100 |
| Apr 26 | 112 |
| May 26 | 82 |
| Jun 26 | 99 |
| Jul 26 | 81 |
| Aug 26 | 110 |
| Sep 26 | 68 |
| Oct 26 | 67 |
The newest months read low: start dates are confirmed with a delay.
352 firms hired at least one lateral in Intellectual Property in the window. The ten firms at the head of the hiring table took 15.2% of arrivals (12.9% market-wide), so hiring here is moderately concentrated. Morrison & Foerster ranks first by lateral arrivals, in the 21-40 band.
- Partner34.4%
- Counsel11.4%
- Associate49.7%
By city, New York comes first (13.7% of arrivals), then Washington, DC (10.5%). 15.9% of movers also changed city, against 20.5% market-wide.
5.1% of moves came as part of a group, against 1.5% market-wide. In-house roles drew 123 lawyers in the last 6 months, 24.3 per 100 lateral moves (market 13.1).
With volume in Intellectual Property holding level, a hire depends on a specific reason to move, which a firm has to put in front of the candidate.
Firms by rank and band
Each firm appears as a rank and a band, never an exact count, and only with at least 10 moves in the window.
| Rank | Firm | Moves (band) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Morrison & Foerster | 21-40 |
| 2 | Winston Taylor | 11-20 |
| 3 | Latham & Watkins | 11-20 |
| 4 | DLA Piper | 11-20 |
| 5 | Morgan, Lewis & Bockius | 11-20 |
| 6 | White & Case | 11-20 |
| 7 | Womble Bond Dickinson | 11-20 |
| 8 | Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe | 11-20 |
| 9 | Dorsey & Whitney | 11-20 |
| 10 | Merchant & Gould | 11-20 |
| Rank | Firm | Moves (band) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Winston Taylor | 6-10 |
| 2 | Latham & Watkins | 6-10 |
| 3 | Morgan, Lewis & Bockius | 6-10 |
| 4 | Merchant & Gould | 6-10 |
| 5 | DLA Piper | 6-10 |
| 6 | Honigman Attorneys & Counselors | 6-10 |
| 7 | Womble Bond Dickinson | 3-5 |
| 8 | Spencer Fane | 3-5 |
| 9 | King & Spalding | 3-5 |
| 10 | Morrison & Foerster | 3-5 |
Related monitors and reports
Intellectual Property by city
- New York143 moves
- Washington, DC110 moves
- San Francisco98 moves
- Los Angeles69 moves
- Boston64 moves
- London54 moves
- Chicago53 moves
- Dallas44 moves
- Atlanta24 moves
- Houston24 moves
Specialities in Intellectual Property
Related monitors
Other practices
- Litigation & Disputes
- Corporate & M&A
- Banking & Finance
- Employment & Labor
- Real Estate
- Private Equity
- Product Liability & Torts
- Construction
- Tax
- Restructuring & Insolvency
- Insurance & Reinsurance
- Capital Markets
- Funds & Investment Management
- Technology, Data & Privacy
- Projects & Infrastructure
- White Collar, Investigations & Criminal
- Health Care
- Antitrust & Competition
- Regulatory & Compliance
- Environment & Sustainability
- Private Client & Estates
- Public Law & Government
- Pensions, Benefits & Executive Compensation
- Financial Services Regulatory
- International Arbitration & Public International Law
- Immigration
- Commercial Contracts
- International Trade & National Security
- Shipping & Maritime
- Family
Overlapping practices
- Litigation & Disputes54.3% overlap
- Technology, Data & Privacy15.4% overlap
- Corporate & M&A6.8% overlap
- Antitrust & Competition2.8% overlap
- Employment & Labor2.7% overlap
- Commercial Contracts1.9% overlap
Hiring in this market
Reports
- Boston Patent Lawyers: IP Hiring Runs Far Above Its Market Weight
Boston hires intellectual property lawyers at more than twice the market's weight, an index of 235, and partners tilt the scale further. The lawyers who move are patent prosecutors and life-science specialists, and the work behind them is pharma and biotech.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Chicago IP Laterals Leave Big Firms More Often Than They Join Them
Chicago IP lawyers leave firms of 1,000+ lawyers at the city's usual rate, but firms of 400-999 lawyers take 39.9% of arrivals, 1.5 times their share across Chicago.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - DC Intellectual Property Hiring: Top 10 Firms Take 36.4%
Intellectual property hiring in Washington runs through a short list of buyers: the top 10 took 36.4% of lateral moves, against 15.2% for the practice as a whole and 19.8% for Washington across practices.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Intellectual Property in London: 4.1% of Moves, Led by Brands
Intellectual property is 4.1% of London's lateral moves, an index of 55 against the market. The London bench that does move leans to trademarks and copyright, is mostly associates, and has almost no counsel in motion.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Intellectual Property Partner Track 2026: Firms Buy Finished Partners
IP firms buy finished partners: partners were 34.4% of IP lateral moves against 27.7% market-wide, and firms promoted only 0.65 IP lawyers per lateral partner hired, against 0.79. The track itself is a little quicker than the market's, at a mean of 10.7 years against 11.1 years.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - IP Lateral Hiring in 2026: Lawyers Move as Teams and Stay in Town
IP lawyers change firms in groups and rarely change cities: 5.1% of IP moves were team moves against 1.5% market-wide, and only 15.9% changed city against 20.5%.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - IP Matters in 2026: Up 20.9% While the Lateral Bench Held Flat
IP matters rose 20.9% on settled windows, 2.0 times the growth rate of all dated deals, while IP lateral hiring held flat (+7.2%). The work is growing, the bench is not, and brand owners rather than technology or pharma companies supply the largest share of it.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Los Angeles IP Hiring: Mid-Size and Smaller Firms Take Most Moves
Los Angeles intellectual property laterals join firms outside the 1,000+ lawyers class far more often than IP laterals elsewhere or Los Angeles laterals in general. The 3-year record leans the same way, and the work behind it is copyright and brand work.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - New York IP Leans to Media Clients and Copyright Hiring
Media and entertainment companies are the client on 10.3% of New York IP matters over 3 years, against 4.8% of the practice's matters in the latest 12 months. Copyright hiring in the city scores 141 on our market index, while IP as a whole sits under the market at 93.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - San Francisco IP Laterals: 11.2% Arrived as Part of a Team
Intellectual property hiring in San Francisco runs on teams more than either reference market does: 11.2% of laterals arrived with colleagues, against 5.1% for the practice as a whole and 2.4% for the city. Counsel make up 17.3% of the moves, and pharma and biotech companies are the client on 31.1% of the matters on record.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026
Edition November 2026. Window: November 2025 to October 2026. Source: Sartori & Partners, from public law-firm announcements, firm websites and professional profiles, checked monthly. Methodology. Spot an error? [email protected].
For law firm leaders
Planning a partner hire in this market?
We run retained partner searches using the same data behind this page.