Projects and Infrastructure Lateral Hiring 2026: A Partner Market

Projects and infrastructure lateral partner hiring is the core of this practice: partners make up a far larger share of its moves than of the market's. Sartori & Partners data show 212 lateral partner moves in the settled 12 months to September 2026, against 182 a year earlier: partner moves held flat (+16.5%), a gap that counts of this size can produce by chance. Across all levels the practice held flat (+1.3%), with 537 moves against 530, while the whole market grew. The firms building projects benches go after lawyers who carry their own sponsor and lender relationships, not after associate depth. For a firm planning its next projects hire, the pool it competes in is a partner pool, and it is not getting any larger.

The market moved; projects did not. Market-wide, lateral partner moves rose 8.4% over the same windows, from 3,558 to 3,858, and all-level moves rose 9.0%, from 13,128 to 14,305. The projects partner count moved by more in percentage terms, but on a count this small the gap cannot be told apart from chance, and at all levels projects and infrastructure held flat (+1.3%). What sets the practice apart is not growth but its senior mix, which the next section measures.

The two practices that sit closest to projects work split. Banking and finance is recorded on 46.7% of projects moves, and it grew at both levels: its partner count rose 10.6% and its all-level count rose 14.1%. In environment and sustainability the partner count held flat (-6.2%) and the all-level count held flat (+7.1%). Projects sits with environment, not with finance: in both, hiring held flat while the market grew.

Calendar years put the flat reading in context. Sartori & Partners counted 208 projects partner moves in 2025, against 131 in 2024 and 167 in 2023, and 2026 had already reached 179 by October. The step up came in 2025 and has held since, without a further rise. A firm that last ran a projects partner search in 2024 should expect more rival offers on the table this time, and should move faster once a candidate is engaged.

Partners were 38.6% of projects and infrastructure lateral moves in the past 12 months, against 27.7% across the legal market, a gap of 10.9 points. Associates were 48.4% of projects moves, against 58.5% market-wide. The tilt is recent as well as large: over 3 years the partner share of projects moves was 35.0%, so the latest 12 months sit above the practice's own longer run, while the market's 3-year figure was 26.9%.

These partners arrive one at a time. Only 1.0% of projects moves were part of a team joining the same firm in the same quarter, against 1.5% in the whole market, so team lifts are rare in both. Another route to the title is common: 15.1% of projects moves landed the lawyer at a higher title than the one left, against 12.9% market-wide. Senior counsel and associates who join as partners are part of the supply. A firm that wants a projects partner should plan for an individual hire with a portable practice, and should screen senior counsel at other firms who would step up for the title.

Houston took 9.6% of projects and infrastructure lateral moves in the past 12 months, against 2.3% of all lateral moves, an index of 409. No other city on the practice list comes close: Washington sits at 112 and New York at 79. Houston is the center of the energy industry, and firms hire projects lawyers where that work is run. The pull is getting stronger: over 3 years Houston held 7.0% of projects moves, below its latest 12-month share.

Projects lawyers relocate slightly more often than the market: 22.3% of projects moves with both cities known involved a change of city, against 20.5% in the market. Most still stay put, so a Houston seat is filled mostly from the Houston bar, where the same specialists are courted by every energy-facing firm. Firms without a Houston projects office should price the search as a recruitment against incumbents, not as a pick from an open pool.

London took 13.6% of projects and infrastructure moves, the largest single share on the list, at an index of 147. Over 3 years its share was 15.7%, so London still leads but by less, as Houston has grown. In banking and finance London's index is 177, so London over-indexes in both practices, which share many of the same lawyers.

New York runs the other way. It took 11.7% of projects moves against 14.8% of the whole market, an index of 79: the largest legal market is under-represented in projects hiring. For a firm, London and Houston are the two places where a projects partner search has real depth; a New York projects hire is a narrower search than the size of the New York bar suggests.

Firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 71.1% of projects and infrastructure lateral moves, against 53.6% across the market. In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, 170 firms hired at least one projects lawyer in the past 12 months, and the most active partner hirers each took 6-10 projects partners. Smaller firms feed the larger ones: over 3 years firms under 150 lawyers supplied 6.3% of projects movers but received 3.2%.

No single firm dominates: the list ends at a band of 3-5 partners. A firm of 400-999 lawyers competing for a projects partner is bidding against global platforms on most searches, and should win on role, platform fit and the client conflicts a larger firm would raise, not on headline pay.

Projects is a partner market that held flat while the wider market grew; all-level hiring moved +1.3%. Four consequences follow for a firm planning a hire. First, the partner pool is contested: 212 partners moved in the settled year, so a search should assume the candidate holds other offers and needs a short decision cycle and a clear business case for the candidate's clients. Second, location sets the depth of the search: Houston at an index of 409 and London at 147 are the two deep markets, while New York at 79 is thinner than it looks. Third, widen the net to senior counsel who would join as partners, since 15.1% of projects moves came with a step up in title. Fourth, budget for individual hires rather than team lifts, and build the associate layer around each new partner after the arrival.