San Francisco Litigation Hiring Held Flat as the City Rose 30.1%

San Francisco litigation lateral hiring held flat over the past year while the city around it grew fast. Sartori & Partners data show 240 lateral moves into San Francisco litigation groups on the settled 12-month window, against 208 a year earlier. Year on year the group held flat (+15.4%): on counts this small, a swing of that size sits inside what chance alone produces. Lateral hiring into San Francisco across all practices rose 30.1% over the same windows, from 355 to 462, and litigation across the practice rose 7.5%, from 5,281 to 5,679. For a firm planning a litigation hire in the city, the busy headline belongs mostly to other practice groups.

The city gained 107 settled moves between the two windows; litigation gained 32. Litigation's share of settled lateral moves into San Francisco went from 58.6% to 51.9%. The litigation percentage looks large only because its base is small. The city's gain is large enough to count as a real rise, and most of it came from outside litigation.

The longer view points the same way. Over 3 years litigation was involved in 54.9% of lateral moves into San Francisco; over the latest 12 months the figure was 49.9%, a drop of 5.0 points. Litigation is still the largest group in the city, but its weight in the city's hiring is shrinking.

The yearly series makes the split visible. San Francisco recorded 370 lateral moves in 2025 and 409 by the end of October 2026, already past the full prior year. Litigation recorded 213 in 2025 and 207 to October, still short of the 2025 total. Older years miss lawyers who have since left private practice, which lifts recent years by a few points; the gap between the two lines is wider than that.

Plan litigation searches on last year's litigation volume, not on the city's growth rate. The extra lateral traffic in San Francisco is real, but most of it is in other groups.

In the Sartori & Partners lateral records, corporate and M&A was involved in 23.2% of San Francisco moves over 12 months, against 21.0% over 3 years. Intellectual property went from 19.3% to 21.6% over the same comparison. Litigation moved the other way. One lawyer can be recorded under several practices, so these shares overlap and are not a split of the city's moves.

San Francisco remains over-weight in litigation. Its litigation share sits at an index of 125 against the share in the whole market, while intellectual property sits at 292. The city is still a litigation town by volume; it is simply not where the new moves came from.

The city total therefore overstates the demand a San Francisco litigation candidate meets. A litigation group can read the city's growth as competition for the office's overall hiring budget, not as a tighter litigation pool.

Litigation across the practice rose on a far larger base. Its moves rose 7.5%, from 5,281 to 5,679, and that rise rests on thousands of moves, so it reads as a real change. San Francisco's own percentage is larger but rests on far fewer moves and reads flat. San Francisco took 3.9% of the practice's settled moves a year earlier and 4.2% on the latest window, and the city carries an index of 124 among the practice's cities. San Francisco litigation moved with litigation as a whole, not with its own city.

At partner level, every measure reads flat. Lateral partner moves into San Francisco litigation held flat (-7.7%), from 65 to 60. Partner moves across the practice held flat (+0.9%), and partner moves into San Francisco across all practices held flat (+8.5%). Partners were 25.7% of San Francisco litigation moves over 12 months, against 27.4% across the practice and 24.9% for the city.

The yearly partner count swings with no clear direction: 63 in 2023, 44 in 2024, 69 in 2025 and 52 to October 2026. A firm seeking a litigation partner here should expect a pool about the size of last year's, with no lift from the city's growth, and budget search time on that basis.

Partner hiring in San Francisco litigation sat with few firms. The ten firms that hired most took 50.0% of individual litigation partner hires in the city over 12 months; three hired enough partners to be named above. Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani ranked first, in the 6-10 band of partner hires.

Across the practice the ten firms that hired most litigation partners took 13.9% of individual partner hires, so San Francisco's partner market is 3.6 times as concentrated. Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani also ranked first across the practice, in the 21-40 band. The buyer base across all levels is wider: 103 firms hired at least one San Francisco litigator in 12 months, against 149 hiring firms in the city across all practices.

A firm adding a litigation partner in San Francisco will often meet the same few rival bidders. Know which firms those are before the first call, because a candidate who has heard from one of them will measure your offer against it.

Size the search on the litigation numbers, not the city's. Sartori & Partners figures put San Francisco litigation at 240 settled moves against 208 a year earlier, a change that reads flat, while the city overall rose 30.1%. Time to fill a litigation seat should be planned on last year's experience.

Hire from the local bench. Only 12.6% of San Francisco litigation moves with both cities known involved a change of city, against 19.6% across the practice. Most candidates are already in San Francisco offices, so a search is a contest for lawyers the other local firms know too.

Expect a short list of rivals at partner level. Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, Ballard Spahr and Thompson Hine were the named partner hirers over 12 months. A firm outside that group needs a clear reason for a partner to join, set out early.

Watch the other groups in your own office. Corporate and intellectual property took a larger share of the city's moves over 12 months than over 3 years, at 23.2% and 21.6%. Where the office budget follows the city's growth, the litigation group will have to argue for its share of it.