Practice monitor · November 2026
Regulatory & Compliance: lateral market monitor
Lawyers who changed firm in Regulatory & Compliance 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
- 407
- Lateral moves, 12 monthsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- +0.5%
- Year on yearSettled 12-month windows
- 42.5%
- Partner share of moves
- 190
- Firms that hired
What the data show
Sartori & Partners data show 407 lateral moves in Regulatory & Compliance from November 2025 to October 2026, 2.9% of all lateral moves we tracked. On settled windows the count went from 420 to 422 (+0.5%), which we read as flat. The market as a whole moved +9.0%, so this flow lagged it.
This is a partner market: 42.5% of movers were partners, against 27.7% market-wide. On settled windows partner moves alone went from 159 to 176 (+10.7%), a change inside the noise of the two counts, so we read it as flat. 14.7% of movers stepped up a level when they changed firm, against 12.9% for the market.
Latest: 37 in Sep 26
Show the numbers
| Month | Value |
|---|---|
| Nov 24 | 31 |
| Jan 25 | 58 |
| Feb 25 | 46 |
| Mar 25 | 43 |
| Apr 25 | 36 |
| May 25 | 40 |
| Jun 25 | 33 |
| Jul 25 | 27 |
| Sep 25 | 38 |
| Oct 25 | 31 |
| Dec 25 | 22 |
| Jan 26 | 56 |
| Feb 26 | 45 |
| Mar 26 | 34 |
| Apr 26 | 40 |
| May 26 | 39 |
| Jun 26 | 38 |
| Jul 26 | 24 |
| Aug 26 | 37 |
| Sep 26 | 37 |
The newest months read low: start dates are confirmed with a delay.
190 firms hired at least one lateral in Regulatory & Compliance in the window. Ten firms account for 21.8% of arrivals, against 12.9% across the market: moderately concentrated. First on the hiring table is Greenberg Traurig, with arrivals in the 11-20 band.
- Partner42.5%
- Counsel16.0%
- Associate40.5%
By city, Washington, DC comes first (16.7% of arrivals), then London (7.4%). A change of city came with 18.4% of moves (market 20.5%).
For a firm planning a hire in Regulatory & Compliance, a flat market means candidates are not being pulled by a wave: the case for a move has to come from the platform.
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 | Greenberg Traurig | 11-20 |
| 2 | Hogan Lovells Cadwalader | 6-10 |
| 3 | DLA Piper | 6-10 |
| 4 | Dentons | 6-10 |
| 5 | Balch & Bingham | 6-10 |
| 6 | Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher | 6-10 |
| 7 | Norton Rose Fulbright | 6-10 |
| 8 | Clyde & Co | 6-10 |
| 9 | Holland & Knight | 6-10 |
| 10 | Womble Bond Dickinson | 6-10 |
| Rank | Firm | Moves (band) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Balch & Bingham | 6-10 |
| 2 | Greenberg Traurig | 6-10 |
| 3 | Dentons | 3-5 |
| 4 | DLA Piper | 3-5 |
| 5 | Womble Bond Dickinson | 3-5 |
| 6 | Spencer Fane | 3-5 |
| 7 | Holland & Knight | 3-5 |
| 8 | Hogan Lovells Cadwalader | 3-5 |
| 9 | Akerman | 3-5 |
| 10 | McCarthy Tétrault | 3-5 |
Related monitors and reports
Regulatory & Compliance by city
- Washington, DC68 moves
- London30 moves
- New York22 moves
Specialities in Regulatory & Compliance
Related monitors
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Overlapping practices
- Litigation & Disputes40.0% overlap
- Environment & Sustainability32.2% overlap
- Projects & Infrastructure13.8% overlap
- Public Law & Government11.8% overlap
- Technology, Data & Privacy10.6% overlap
- White Collar, Investigations & Criminal9.8% overlap
- Corporate & M&A9.6% overlap
- Real Estate5.9% overlap
Hiring in this market
Reports
- Path to Partner in Regulatory Law: 11.0 years, Not 10.0 years
The median regulatory partner is promoted 11.0 years after the first year of practice, 1 year later than the market median of 10.0 years. Fewer make it early, and firms fill more of the gap with lateral partners.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Regulatory Lawyer Lateral Moves in 2026: A Market of Senior Hires
Regulatory and compliance hiring runs senior: partners were 42.5% and counsel 16.0% of lateral moves, against 27.7% and 12.7% market-wide. Volume held flat, so every senior hire comes out of a pool that is not growing.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Washington Regulatory Hiring: 72.1% Joined Firms of 1,000+ lawyers
Washington regulatory lawyers move up the size ladder. Over 3 years, 63.5% of their moves went to firms of 1,000+ lawyers while 54.4% came from them, and in the last 12 months the large-firm share ran above both the practice and the city.
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].
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