London Projects Hiring: Outsized Share, Flat Partner Line in 2026

Sartori & Partners data show that london projects lawyers lateral hiring runs well ahead of the city's size. London received 71 projects and infrastructure lateral moves over 12 months, 13.6% of the practice's 523. Across all practices, London holds 9.2% of lateral moves. The gap is the story of this market: projects work pulls lawyers to London harder than almost any other practice does, and the pull is strongest at partner level. What has shifted is London's part of partner hiring, which slipped while partner counts in London and across the practice both held flat.

The index puts the gap in one figure. London's share of projects moves stands at 147 against its share of the whole market; an index at the market level would mean projects hiring simply follows the city's general size. No city counts more projects moves: New York received 61, an index of 79, so the largest legal market in America under-indexes in a practice where London over-indexes. Houston is the one city with a stronger tilt, at 409, on a smaller base of 50 moves.

Seen from inside the city, projects is 5.5% of all lateral moves into London, against 3.7% of moves market-wide. For a firm deciding where to add projects capacity, London is where the candidate flow is deepest: more projects lawyers change firms there than in any other city we track.

Partner moves tell the same story. In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, projects and infrastructure is 7.3% of London's lateral partner moves, against 5.5% of its moves at all levels. Against the market's partner mix, that gives London projects an index of 141, close to the all-level reading of 148.

London also took 13.9% of the practice's 202 partner moves over 12 months, a touch above its share of all projects moves. Of the practices listed for London partner moves, only banking and finance, at 162, and restructuring, at 144, over-index more.

The consequence is plain for a partner search. A firm looking for a projects partner who can anchor a European or Middle East practice will find more of them moving in London than its general market share would suggest, and should start the search there before widening it.

Partners were 39.4% of London projects lateral moves over 12 months, against 29.3% for London across all practices, a gap of 10.1 points. Associates were 50.7% of London projects moves, against 60.4% in the city as a whole.

The mix is a feature of the practice more than of London. Partners make up 38.6% of projects moves across all cities, close to the London figure. Projects firms tend to hire the senior lawyer who brings sponsor and lender relationships, and London follows that pattern rather than the associate-heavy pattern of its own market. Over 3 years the partner share of London projects moves was 35.0%, so the last 12 months lean further toward partners than the longer run.

London projects movers are also local. Only 16.7% changed city, against 22.3% across the practice, and over 3 years 61.7% of the cell's moves came from other London firms. For a hiring firm, that means the London projects pool is mostly people already at a rival desk in the city: a search that relies on relocation will reach few of them.

London projects partner moves held flat (-3.0%) on the settled windows, 33 and then 32. Across the practice, projects partner moves held flat (+16.5%), from 182 to 212. London partner hiring at all practices held flat (+1.3%), from 384 to 389.

Put together, neither line moved clearly, but the balance between them did. London's part of the practice's partner moves went from 18.1% in the earlier window to 15.1% in the latest. The city remains over-indexed for projects partners; the practice's small rise in partner moves, too small to read as growth, landed in other cities.

The firms that hired the most projects partners in London over 3 years are listed below by rank and band. No 12-month list is published for this cell.

For a firm planning a London projects partner hire, flat means the number of partners in motion is what it was a year ago. The pool is large for the city's size, but it is not refilling faster, so a search should expect the same timeline as last year.

Sartori & Partners figures over 3 years show London receiving 243 projects lateral moves, or 15.7% of the practice's 1,544. The 12-month share of 13.6% is lower, while Houston's share rose from 7.0% over 3 years to 9.6% over 12 months.

London still leads the practice on count, and its over-index is wide. But the drift matters for firms that staff transatlantic or energy-transition teams: the share of projects hiring done in London has eased, and Houston has taken a larger part of it. A London projects group competing for the same partner is competing in a market that is steady, not one that is expanding.

First, London is the deepest projects market we track, with an index of 147 at all levels and 141 for partners. A firm adding projects capacity in Europe should treat London as the primary search ground, not one city among many.

Second, budget for partners. London projects moves are 39.4% partners against 29.3% for the city, so rival hirers are chasing senior lawyers with portable relationships, and associate searches face less direct competition from them. Third, do not plan on growth: projects partner moves across the practice held flat (+16.5%), and London's were flat too. The candidate list for a London projects partner is the same length as last year, and most of the names already sit at London firms.