New York Takes 24.4% of Restructuring Lateral Moves, Mostly Local

Sartori & Partners data show New York took 24.4% of all restructuring and insolvency lateral moves over the 12 months to October 2026: 170 of the 698 moves the practice recorded across the market. London, the next city on the list, took 13.6%. The New York restructuring lateral market is also unusual in who moves and where they come from. Partners are 45.9% of it, against 28.3% of all lateral moves into the city, and only 7.1% of the lawyers who joined New York restructuring groups changed city to do so, against 17.8% for the practice as a whole. For a firm building or defending a restructuring group in New York, the candidates are senior, already in the city, and working for a rival down the street.

Size alone does not explain the lead. New York takes 14.8% of all lateral moves across the market, so its restructuring share of 24.4% gives an index of 165: the city carries the practice well above its usual weight. London, at an index of 147, is the only other large market where restructuring runs that far above its weight. Dallas shows an index of 172, but on a count of only 29 moves. Chicago sits at 111, while Los Angeles, at 57, draws less restructuring hiring than its size would predict.

Seen from inside the city, restructuring is mid-sized by headcount and outsized by weight. It accounted for 8.2% of lateral moves into New York, against 5.0% of moves across the market, a city index of 166. Litigation, with 733 moves, and corporate, with 504, are far larger in New York, yet they index at only 88 and 117. A US restructuring offering without New York depth is competing away from where the moves happen. A New York group is competing in the practice's busiest city and should expect rival bids for every serious candidate.

The overweight grows with seniority. In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, restructuring accounted for 13.2% of lateral partner moves into New York, an index of 178 against the practice's share of partner moves across the market. No practice listed for New York partners indexes higher: funds follow at 176 and banking and finance at 161. Counting every level, restructuring's city index is 166, so partners are where New York leans hardest toward this practice.

The practice's own figures agree. Of all restructuring partner moves recorded across the market, New York took 26.9%, a little more than its 24.4% share of the practice's moves at every level. For a firm hiring restructuring partners, New York is where the senior bench is deepest and where competing offers gather. A partner search there should be priced against other restructuring offers in the city, not against the New York partner average.

Partners were 45.9% of restructuring lateral moves into New York over 12 months, a gap of 17.6 points over the city's 28.3%. Against restructuring across the market, at 41.5%, the gap shrinks to 4.4 points. Most of the distance from the city's mix belongs to the practice, which moves a high share of partners wherever it is; New York adds a little on top.

Associates show the reverse. They were 40.0% of New York restructuring moves, against 58.4% of all moves into the city and 43.3% for the practice. Counsel sit close to both, at 13.5%. The pattern holds over a longer window: across 3 years, partners were 43.0% of restructuring arrivals in New York, against 28.1% for the city and 39.0% for the practice.

A firm looking for a restructuring partner in New York is shopping where partners change firms readily, which widens the field. A firm planning to grow its group from junior ranks has a smaller associate flow to recruit from than the city's totals imply, and should weigh keeping and promoting its own people as part of the plan.

Sartori & Partners data show only 7.1% of lawyers who joined New York restructuring groups also changed city, among moves where both cities are known. Restructuring lawyers across the market relocated 2.5 times as often, at 17.8%, and New York hires in all practices did so at 10.9%. Elsewhere the practice travels; in New York it stays put.

The 3-year figures say the same, so this is not one quiet year: 7.8% for New York restructuring, 18.3% for the practice and 12.4% for the city. Over the same 3 years, 74.5% of restructuring arrivals in New York came from New York firms, against 70.4% for all arrivals in the city; the previous firm's city is not always on record, so both figures are floors. New York as a whole sent more lawyers to other cities than it drew from them over 12 months, 248 against 189, counting only moves with both cities known.

A New York restructuring search is a search inside the city's own firms. A relocation package will rarely decide it. The offer has to persuade a lawyer who could stay where they are, so the case rests on the platform, the conflicts picture and the role, not on the move itself.

This is not a one-year spike. Over 3 years New York took 22.9% of restructuring moves, close to the 12-month figure of 24.4%, while London took 12.7%. By calendar year, New York's slice of the practice was 22.1% in 2022, 21.6% in 2023, 21.8% in 2024 and 20.9% in 2025, with 25.3% in the partial 2026.

On the settled 12-month windows, the New York count held flat (+12.2%), from 147 to 165. Restructuring across the market rose 10.0% over the same windows, from 638 to 702, and lateral hiring into New York in all practices rose 11.9%. On counts this small the New York gain sits inside the noise, but it moved in step with both the practice and the city, so the share stayed where it was. A firm planning a restructuring build should treat New York's place in the practice as structural rather than a feature of one busy year.

Start inside the city. With 7.1% of New York restructuring hires changing city, against 17.8% for the practice across the market, a plan that counts on drawing candidates from Chicago, Dallas or London will run long. Map the New York firms first and treat out-of-town candidates as the exception.

Expect competition at partner level. Partners are 45.9% of restructuring moves into the city, and restructuring indexes at 178 among New York partner moves, higher than any other practice listed. Senior candidates are in motion and so are the firms bidding for them, so a slow process from first meeting to offer is the most common way to lose one.

Define the role by focus before the search opens. Over 3 years, corporate restructuring was the focus of 49.9% of lawyers joining New York restructuring groups, insolvency litigation of 24.8% and creditors' rights of 23.3%. Distressed investing stood at 10.5% and cross-border insolvency at 10.3%. A cross-border or distressed M&A hire draws on a much smaller pool than a mainstream restructuring hire and needs a longer runway.