Houston Projects Hiring Rose 100.0% as the Practice Held Flat

Sartori & Partners data show lateral hiring into Houston projects and infrastructure rose 100.0% on the settled 12-month windows, from 26 moves to 52. Over the same months hiring across the practice held flat (+1.3%), at 537 moves against 530, and Houston across all practices rose 51.1%, from 223 to 337. The pool of project finance lawyers Houston offices draw on is growing inside a practice that, counted across all cities, did not grow. The base is small and a handful of hires moves the percentage, but the gap to both reference points is too wide to read as chance. For a firm with a Houston energy or infrastructure bench, the competition for the same people has picked up sharply.

In raw counts Houston projects added 26 moves between the two windows, while the practice as a whole added 7. Houston alone, in other words, added more projects moves than the practice added in every city combined, which means the practice outside Houston, taken together, recorded fewer projects moves than a year earlier. Against its own city the practice also stands out. Houston across all practices added 114 moves, and in percentage terms projects grew 2.0 times as fast as the city, 100.0% against 51.1%.

The practice therefore took a larger slice of Houston's market: projects and infrastructure was 15.4% of settled moves into the city, against 11.7% a year earlier. The yearly series tells the same story. With two months still to run, 2026 already holds 47 Houston projects moves, more than any full year in the series, where the previous high was 36 in 2022. Across the practice, the count sits at 461 moves so far in 2026, still short of the 537 of 2025.

A firm that budgeted a Houston projects search on last year's pace is now bidding in a busier market. Expect more rival offers per candidate and a shorter window between first call and acceptance.

In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, Houston took 9.6% of the practice's lateral moves over 12 months. That is an index of 409 against par, par being Houston's share of the whole lateral market. Only London and New York recorded more projects moves, and neither comes close on weight: London stands at an index of 147 and New York at 79, below par.

The weight is rising. Over three years Houston held 7.0% of the practice's moves, and on the settled windows its share went from 4.9% to 9.7%. Seen from the city, projects and infrastructure is 15.1% of all lateral moves into Houston, the third-largest practice after litigation and corporate. Among partners the slice is bigger still: 21.4% of Houston's lateral partner moves were projects lawyers.

Houston is a primary hub for this practice, not a satellite. A firm planning a US projects build that stops at New York and Washington is planning around the city where the practice is most concentrated.

The Houston projects deal record points to energy, and to the energy transition in particular. Sartori & Partners counted 319 dated projects deals worked from Houston over three years, 121 of them in the latest 12 months, so 37.9% of three years of deal work came in one year. Power and renewables clients were on 48.6% of those deals and oil and gas clients on 27.3%. Power and renewables deals outnumber oil and gas deals by 1.8 to one, in a city still identified with hydrocarbons.

The work is financing-led. Project and infrastructure finance was the deal type on 66.1% of those three-year deals, M&A on 12.2%. The lawyers who moved show the same shape: project development was the most common focus among three-year movers at 25.9%, ahead of project finance at 19.4%.

The hire that matches this demand is a lawyer who has closed renewable project financings or led development work for power sponsors. Oil and gas experience still counts, but it is the second market here, not the first.

Partners made up 42.0% of Houston projects moves over 12 months, against 38.6% across the practice and 29.6% for Houston across all practices. The longer view holds: over three years partners were 43.5% of Houston projects moves, with counsel at 10.2%. Few of these moves came with a better title, 10.2% over three years against 13.8% for the practice.

The market is also local. Lawyers already practicing in Houston accounted for 76.9% of three-year moves, and only 14.9% of 12-month moves involved a change of city, against 22.3% across the practice. Relocation packages rarely widen the field here. The realistic pool is the people already sitting in other Houston offices, and the pitch has to rest on platform, pay and deal flow rather than on a promotion.

Firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 87.8% of Houston projects moves over 12 months, against 71.1% across the practice and 58.9% for Houston across all practices. On the supply side the picture is wider: over three years firms of that size supplied 63.9% of the lawyers who moved, with 17.6% coming from firms of 400-999 lawyers and 9.3% from firms under 150 lawyers.

Demand is concentrated. 24 firms hired Houston projects lawyers in 12 months, 34 over three years, and the top 10 took 70.0% of the individual hires, against 27.4% across the practice and 35.4% for Houston overall.

For a mid-size Houston firm, the practical risk is retention: it is a source of talent for the large platforms, not a rival buyer. A large firm should expect to bid against the same short list of rivals for almost every senior candidate.

Move early. Houston projects hiring rose 100.0% while hiring across the practice held flat (+1.3%), so competition for Houston projects lawyers has sharpened while the rest of the practice stood still. Waiting for the pace to ease means bidding later against the same large platforms with fewer candidates left.

Hire for power, not only for oil and gas. With power and renewables clients on 48.6% of Houston projects deals, renewable project finance and development experience is the scarce profile, and it is where rival offers will cluster.

Plan the bench, not one hire. Growing partners from within is slow: Houston projects lawyers promoted over 5 years took a median of 10.0 years from their first year of practice, and 34 projects openings were live on Houston law-firm career pages in November. A firm that needs senior capacity this year will find it in other Houston offices, and should price the search accordingly.