Technology and Privacy Lateral Hiring 2026: Companies Compete Too

For a firm building a technology and privacy bench, the rival is often a company rather than another firm. Sartori & Partners data show 30.3 moves in-house for every hundred lateral moves in the practice since May 2026, against 13.1 across all practices. Technology lawyers moving in-house are only part of the story. The same practice posted a much sharper rise in lateral partner hiring: in the settled 12-month window to September 2026, partner moves went from 135 to 195 and rose 44.4%. A firm hiring here competes on two fronts at once: against companies for its associates and counsel, and against other firms for partners.

The count of lawyers leaving firms for companies starts in May 2026, so there is no earlier period to set it against. In those six months, 93 technology and privacy lawyers left a law firm for a company, 30.3 for every hundred who moved between firms. Across all practices the figure was 13.1, so this practice sends lawyers to companies at 2.3 times the market rate, more than twice as often per lateral move. Intellectual property, which shares 27.4% of this practice's moves, sits at 24.3.

Seen as a share, the practice accounts for 9.8% of all moves from firms to companies, but only 4.2% of lateral moves between firms. Not every employer on the other side is a legal department. Companies that sell technology to lawyers also hire them for product roles, and across the market the most active employer of lawyers leaving firms since May was Harvey, a business that builds software for legal work; Legora also appears among the most active employers.

For a firm, the point is retention. A privacy associate who knows how regulators think and how a product team ships is the profile a company wants, and the move rarely reverses. Firms that hire into this practice should plan for part of each associate class to leave for companies, recruit with that wastage in mind, and keep in touch with alumni: the lawyers who leave become buyers of outside advice.

Lateral partner moves in the practice went from 135 to 195 between the two settled 12-month windows, so the count rose 44.4%. Across all practices, partner moves went from 3,558 to 3,858 and rose 8.4%. Intellectual property, the closest neighbor, held flat (+8.0%) on counts of 326 and 352.

All lateral moves in technology and privacy went from 448 to 594 over the same windows, so the total rose 32.6%, against a market that rose 9.0%. Partners grew faster than the practice as a whole, which means the extra activity sits at the senior end.

The yearly series puts the jump in context. Partner arrivals sat in a narrow band from 2022 to 2025, between 143 and 160 a year, and 2026 had already reached 178 by October. For a hiring firm the rise cuts both ways. More partners are open to a move, so a search finds names; more firms are bidding, so each candidate has options. Once the fit is clear, a firm should be ready to make an offer within weeks rather than months.

Partners made up 33.2% of technology and privacy lateral moves in the 12 months to October 2026, against 27.7% across all practices. Associates were 51.2% of the practice's moves against 58.5% of the market's, and counsel 13.4% against 12.7%.

This is not a one-year effect. Over the past 3 years, the Sartori & Partners lateral database holds 1,520 technology and privacy lateral moves, and partners were 32.8% of them, against 26.9% in the whole market. Lawyers in the practice also stepped up in title a little more often when they moved: 14.8% joined at a higher title in the past 12 months, against 12.9% market-wide.

A senior-weighted market makes each hire a larger commitment. A firm adding a privacy partner should test the book and the regulatory relationships early. It should also expect pressure on the bench behind that partner: across all practices, associates made up 76.7% of moves from firms to companies, and those are the lawyers a new partner needs to keep.

On the Sartori & Partners city index, where one hundred means the same share as in the whole market, San Francisco reads 174 for technology and privacy hiring. London follows at 132, Washington at 127 and Chicago at 109. New York, the largest city for lateral moves across the market, reads 76, and Los Angeles 91.

The longer run shows the same map. Across the past 3 years, San Francisco took 6.2% of the practice's lateral moves, against 2.8% of all moves, and London took 11.9% against 10.0%. Intellectual property leans harder on the Bay Area, at an index of 292, but reads 56 in London: data protection work in Europe pulls this practice toward London in a way patent work does not.

Candidates also stay put a little more than average: 18.4% of the practice's laterals changed city, against 20.5% of all lateral moves. For a firm without an office in San Francisco or London, the reachable pool is thinner than the national totals suggest. For a firm with both, they are the first two places to search, and a relocation package will not substitute for a local presence.

The ten most active partner hirers in technology and privacy took 21.7% of the practice's lateral partner moves in the 12 months to October 2026, against 13.5% for the top 10 partner hirers across all practices. Firms with 1,000+ lawyers took 58.4% of the practice's lateral moves, against 53.6% market-wide. Team moves were more frequent too: 5.4% of the practice's moves came as part of a team joining the same firm in the same quarter, against 1.5% of all moves.

A firm outside this group meets large, well-funded platforms in most partner searches. Two routes work better than a head-on bid: a team hire, where a partner arrives with the associates and clients that make the practice run, or a partner at a smaller firm who wants a broader platform. Of the practice's lateral moves, 10.2% went to firms under 150 lawyers, so the smaller end of the market is a hirer as well as a source.

Treat companies as a direct competitor. At 30.3 moves in-house for every hundred laterals, a technology and privacy bench sends lawyers to companies at 2.3 times the market rate. Retention of associates and counsel deserves the same attention as lateral offers, because each departure to a company is also a seat to refill.

Move quickly on partners. Lateral partner moves in the practice went from 135 to 195 and rose 44.4%, so candidates are available, and so are rival offers. A firm that takes a quarter to decide will often find the candidate already placed.

Search where the practice over-indexes. San Francisco at 174 and London at 132 hold more of the practice than their size; a firm without a presence in either should plan a team hire to enter rather than a single relocation.

Budget for seniority. With partners at 33.2% of the practice's moves against 27.7% market-wide, each hire is a larger commitment, and the associates who support it are exposed to company offers from the first year.