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- Telecom M&A Counsel in 2026: A Bench That Rarely Changes City
Lawyers who focus on telecommunications changed city on 8.3% of their moves, against 21.2% of corporate and M&A lateral moves. Corporate lawyers sit on 31.9% of telecom deals, so the M&A bench a company can hire is usually the one already in place.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - The Long Partner Track: Projects, Trade and Regulatory Work
Sartori & Partners data show 66.9% of projects and infrastructure partners promoted within 12 years, against 86.7% in private equity and 75.4% across the market. The long track sits in project, trade, regulatory and private client work.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - The Price of a Power Lawyer: 23.3% Change City, 16.1% Step Up
Lawyers focused on power and renewables changed city on 23.3% of their moves and joined at a higher title on 16.1%, both above the market. A developer or investor hiring in-house can recruit across cities, and should expect to offer a step up.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - The Top 10 Lateral Hirers Take 12.9% of Moves, 34.0% in Funds
Lateral hiring is spread thin: 1,291 firms hired at least one lateral, and the top 10 took 12.9% of all moves and 13.5% of partner moves. How crowded the field is depends on the practice, from 12.0% in litigation to 34.0% in funds.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Time to Partner at the Firms That Promote Most: Volume Is Not Speed
Among the firms that promote the most partners, speed and volume part ways: Kirkland & Ellis and McDermott Will & Schulte make partners faster than the market median of 10.0 years. Firm size alone moves nothing: the large-firm median is the same 10.0 years.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Time to Partner Holds at 10.0 years, but the Slow Tail Grows Longer
The midpoint has not moved: the median time to partner was 10.0 years in 2022 and 10.0 years in 2025. The slow end has. By 2025 the upper quartile had reached 13.0 years and the mean 11.1 years, up from 10.9 years in 2022. In 2026 to date the mean is 11.6 years and only 17.5% of new partners were made within eight years.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Time to Partner in Canada: The City Gap Is a Litigation Gap
Toronto litigators made partner within 8 years 52.2% of the time, against 38.1% in Montreal and 36.4% in Calgary. Corporate lawyers in Toronto and Montreal reach partner on nearly the same clock.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Time to Partner in Washington, DC: Why Deal Lawyers Wait Longer
Washington promotes 14.4% of its new partners within 8 years, against 20.3% in New York. The shortfall sits in corporate, regulatory and white collar work, not in the city's litigation bench.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Toronto Associate Market 2026: Mid-Size Firms Hire Above Their Weight
Firms of 400-999 lawyers took 41.2% of Toronto lateral hires over 12 months, 1.8 times their market share, while firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 38.2% against 62.6% in New York.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Toronto Lateral Partner Market 2026: Promotions Outrun Partner Hires
From June 2025 to May 2026, Toronto firms promoted 2.09 lawyers to partner for every lateral partner they hired, against 0.79 across the market. Lateral partner hiring held flat, and time to partner is close to Montreal's.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Tort Partner Tracks in 2026: A Fast Start and a Long Tail
Tort specialities promote early and late at once. In premises and general liability the middle half of new partners took 8.0 years to 14.0 years, a spread of 6 years against 3 in private M&A, so the date of a partnership decision is harder to plan.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Trade Secrets Lateral Hiring in 2026: A Partner Market
Half of trade secrets lateral moves are partners (51.4%), against 27.7% across the market. The pool is steady and local, centered on San Francisco and Los Angeles.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Trademark Lawyers in 2026: Who Files and Who Hires
The firms with the most trademark matters on record and the firms hiring the most trademark lawyers share one name at the top, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, and then part ways. Hiring also runs further from the largest firms than in intellectual property as a whole.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Transport Litigators Come From Smaller Firms: Look Past Deal Firms
About one in five transport-focused lawyers who changed firms over three years left firms of under 150 lawyers, 21.9% against the market's 11.4%, and as many, 21.4%, left firms of 150-399 lawyers. They are litigators with more counsel than the market, so claims counsel is found in small and mid-size litigation firms.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Transportation Capital Markets Counsel in 2026: Movers Go Mid-Size
Capital markets lawyers sit on 23.9% of transportation deals, yet the transportation lawyers who change firms mostly land below the largest size class: 39.0% joined firms of 1,000+ lawyers, against 69.1% of capital markets lateral moves.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Trucking Defense Lawyers: Ten Firms, Half the Hiring
Trucking defense hiring runs through a short list of buyers: the ten most active firms took 51.5% of lateral hires, against 30.0% in product liability and torts and 12.9% across all practices.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Trust and Estate Litigation Hiring Fell as Private Client Held Flat
Trust and estate litigation hiring fell 30.1%, from 83 to 58 moves, while private client hiring held flat (+9.1%) and the market rose 9.0%. Those who did move joined at a higher title in 26.3% of cases, against 16.0% in the practice.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Trusts and Estate Administration 2026: A Small-Firm Talent Pool
Trusts and estate administration recruits from small firms: firms under 150 lawyers were the previous firm for 20.7% of movers over 3 years, 1.8 times the market's 11.4%. The hiring side leans smaller too, with firms of 150-399 lawyers taking 30.5% of joiners against 13.3% market-wide.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Up 27.6%, Power and Renewables Deals Lean on Project Finance
Power and renewables deal flow rose 27.6%, 2.6 times the growth rate of the whole deal market, and project and infrastructure finance runs at 11.8 times its market share. That mix reshapes the adviser list just below the top: firms outside the market's top 10 hold fourth, fifth and sixth place.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Utility Capital Markets Counsel in 2026: Big Tickets, Repeat Clients
Utilities bring the largest disclosed tickets of the sectors compared here, a median of $802.5 million against $660 million for banks and $500 million in power, and 377 clients produced 949 deals in 12 months. Capital markets lawyers worked on 62.3% of them.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Utility M&A Counsel in 2026: A Smaller Share of Deals Than the Market
Corporate and M&A lawyers worked on 16.2% of utility, water and waste deals, 7.1 points under their share of all dated deals, while capital markets lawyers were on 62.3%. In this sector the issuance team is hired first and the M&A team second.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Venture and Growth Deals in 2026: Small Tickets, Specialist Firms
Venture and growth rounds carry a median disclosed value of $55.1 million against $1,200 million in M&A, and they publish a value far more often. Its ten most active advisers are headed by firms built around emerging companies, and five of those ten are absent from the M&A top 10.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Venture capital lawyer hiring: San Francisco and Boston
Venture capital hiring runs through San Francisco and Boston, two cities that sit near the market average in the rest of corporate work. And only 10.2% of venture capital laterals moved to a higher title, against 12.9% across the market.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Venture Work Sits on 16.6% of Fintech Deals, Against 3.8% Market-Wide
Venture and growth work sits on 16.6% of fintech and payments deals, against 3.8% across the market; M&A runs above the market rate, while disputes run well below it. The deal count held flat, and one firm sits a band clear of the rest of the sector's list.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Wage and Hour Lawyers: A California Market, 23.0% in Los Angeles
Wage and hour hiring is a California business: Los Angeles alone takes 23.0% of moves, 2.1 times the employment and labor share there, and San Francisco indexes at 277.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Warsaw Partner Market 2026: A Sharp Drop, Nearly All at Big Firms
Lateral hiring in Warsaw fell 43.6% between the settled 12-month windows while the market rose 9.0% and London held flat (-2.5%). Firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 94.4% of Warsaw moves, and partners were only 12.8% of the three-year flow.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Washington Antitrust Hiring Held Flat While the City Grew 12.4%
Antitrust lateral hiring in Washington stayed level at 51 moves against 67 while the city as a whole rose 12.4%. The bench behind that count is senior and local: partners took 52.9% of moves, against 32.4% across the practice.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Washington DC Associate Hiring 2026: A Thin Associate Bench
Associates are 49.9% of lateral moves into Washington firms, against 58.5% in the market: the lowest share among the top 10 city markets. Washington lawyers also leave for companies more often, at 16.4 per hundred lateral moves against 13.1.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Washington DC Lateral Partners 2026: The Most Partner-Heavy Big City
Partners are 37.7% of lateral moves into Washington, against 27.7% in the market as a whole. Partner hiring there also rose faster than the market's on the year, 18.2% against 8.4%.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Washington DC White Collar Hiring: 19.7% of Moves, 55.3% Partners
Washington takes 19.7% of all white-collar lateral moves, an index of 351 against the market, and partners are 55.3% of them, against 41.6% across the practice and 37.7% across the city.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Washington Finance Hiring: 18.2% of Laterals Stepped Up in Title
Washington banking and finance laterals step up a title and arrive with a team more often than finance laterals in other cities or Washington laterals in other practices: 18.2% moved up and 9.1% came as a group. Both happen in a city where finance is a minor practice.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Washington Health Care Hiring Rose 68.8%, Led by Partners
Health care lateral hiring in Washington rose 68.8%, against 14.5% across the practice and 12.4% across the city. Partners took 52.8% of the moves, and ten firms took 50.9% of the hires.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Washington Litigation Hires Partners Like Washington, Not Litigation
Washington litigators move on the city's level mix, not the practice's: partners are 38.6% of the flow against 27.4% for litigation across the market, and team moves run at 5.5% against 2.0%.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Washington M&A Partner Hires Stayed at 31 While the City's Rose
Partner hiring in Washington corporate and M&A stood still at 31 lateral partners against 31 a year earlier, while partner hiring across Washington rose 18.2% and across M&A rose 12.2%. Most of the city's partner demand sits in litigation, investigations and government work.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Washington Public Law Hiring Stays Local: 7.4% Changed City
Washington public law is hired from inside Washington: 7.4% of laterals changed city, against 22.8% for the practice and 15.7% for the city, and 77.8% of 3-year arrivals came from Washington firms.
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 - Washington Tops Education Deals at Just 16.7%: Buy Close to Home
No city owns the legal work of schools, colleges and universities: 16.7% of education deals were handled with lawyers in Washington, and Raleigh comes third. One adviser stands a band clear of a field of small bands, so an education client can buy close to home.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Washington Trade Hiring: 66.9% of Movers Focus on Export Controls
Washington's trade bench is a national security bench: export controls and sanctions is the focus of 66.9% of its lateral movers and foreign investment review of 50.4%. The city holds 49.1% of the practice's moves, and partners took 50.0% of them.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Waste and Remediation Lawyers Move Without Moving City in 2026
Waste and remediation laterals changed city at 10.2% against 20.5% for the market, and most joined firms outside the 1,000+ lawyers class. Hiring held flat, so a search here is local and slow by nature.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Wealth & Family Office Lawyer Hiring More Than Doubled (2.2 Times)
Lateral hiring of wealth and family office lawyers rose 116.7%, from 30 to 65 settled moves, while hiring across private client and estates held flat (+9.1%). Partners made 61.0% of the moves, against 32.6% in the practice.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - West Coast Time to Partner: San Diego and San Francisco Run Long
The fastest quarter of new partners is promoted by 9.0 years in all five Western cities we compare. The gap opens at the slow end, where San Diego's upper quartile reaches 14.5 years against 12.0 years in Los Angeles.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - What a Team Hire Changes: 57.7% of DC Insurance Moves
One team can be most of a local practice's year: 57.7% of Washington, DC insurance moves came in teams, against 3.1% for the practice overall. Firm hiring ranks count only individual hires, so those lawyers sit in no firm's position.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - What Big Law Firms Hire For in 2026: Three Practice Profiles
The firms that hire the most lateral lawyers do not share one practice mix. Transactional engines, broad platforms and a litigation-defense model each recruit for different work, so a benchmark only holds inside its own profile.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - What Is a General Counsel? 772 Companies Hire From Law Firms
A general counsel runs a company's legal function. Companies fill legal seats from law firms steadily, about 159 moves a month spread across 772 companies, with no single employer dominating.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - What Law Firms Announce: Rankings Lead, Most Lateral Moves Go Unsaid
Rankings and awards filled 13,930 of 31,945 firm announcements in 12 months. Hire announcements came to 3,649, against 14,091 recorded lateral moves: most moves are never announced.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Where Asset Managers Find In-House Lawyers: A Transatlantic Bench
Among lawyers with an asset management focus who changed firms, London and Paris over-index more than New York, and funds lawyers dominate the flow. Their moves rose this year while the sector's deal work held flat, but every one of those moves was to another firm: an in-house offer competes with lateral offers and has to reach lawyers where they sit.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Where Changing Firm Is the Promotion: Legal Specialities in 2026
In distribution and agency work 28.3% of lateral moves came with a higher title, against 12.9% across the market and 8.0% in defamation. In some specialities the next title is easier to win at a new firm than at home.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Where Crypto Lawyers Go: Firms of 1,000+ Lawyers, Rarely a New City
Of the lawyers with a digital asset focus who changed firms, 72.4% joined firms of 1,000+ lawyers, against 53.6% market-wide, and over 36 months they changed city on 11.6% of moves against 21.6%. Moves held flat: a crypto company hiring in-house bids against large-firm pay for a lawyer who rarely relocates.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Where Law Firms Promote Partners: Practice and City Classes, 2026
Litigation produced 126 of New York's 399 new partners in the 12 months to May 2026 and 73 of Washington's 164. New York's transactional groups and litigation in Washington, Chicago and London hold the other large classes.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Where Lawyers Go When They Leave Firms: 86.1% Join Another Firm
Between May and October 2026, 86.1% of lawyers who left a law firm joined another firm, 11.3% went in-house and 0.4% joined government. A firm's retention contest is with other firms first, and above all for its partners.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Where Making Partner Takes Longest: Immigration, Family and ESG
Sartori & Partners data show 54.3% of business immigration partners promoted within 12 years, against 75.4% across the market. Family, ESG and climate change specialities sit at the same level: the slow tracks are advice to individuals and newer fields.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Where Tech M&A Gets Done in 2026: A Bay Area Bench Sponsors Use Less
18.1% of technology deals were handled with lawyers in San Francisco, against 11.2% of sponsor deals, and Palo Alto and Silicon Valley carry rows of their own. Corporate and M&A lawyers work on 47.8% of the sector's deals, against 23.3% across the market.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Where Top Law Firms Source Lateral Hires in 2026: Three Supply Lines
The size of firm a hirer recruits from splits the busiest hirers into three supply lines. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe take 90% and 85% of hires from firms of 1,000+ lawyers, against 56.6% for the market; growth hirers draw on firms of 400-999 lawyers instead.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Which Law Firms Act for Consumers: Disputes Are 91.2% of Deals
When the client is a person, the matter is almost always a dispute: 91.2% of deals for individuals and consumers, 3.6 times the market share, at a median disclosed value of $18.8 million. Washington, not New York, is the first city for the lawyers on these matters.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Which Law Firms Do Technology Companies Use in 2026?
Technology and software buys legal work from more companies than any other sector, each doing fewer deals at smaller values, and venture rounds weigh 4.0 times their market share. The firm credited on the most technology deals does not appear in the market's top 10 deal advisers.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Which Lawyers Move In-House: Tech and IP Most Often, Tax Rarely
Technology, data and privacy lawyers left firms for companies at 30.3 for every hundred lateral moves, and intellectual property lawyers at 24.3, against 13.1 across the market. Tax and product liability lawyers, at 8.2 and 8, rarely make the move: a company search there starts from a thin pool.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - White Collar Lateral Hiring in 2026: A Market That Stays Local
White-collar laterals rarely relocate: 15.6% changed city against 20.5% across the market, and Washington alone took 19.7% of moves. A firm that wants this bench has to recruit where the lawyers already sit.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - White Collar Path to Partner in 2026: Late Start, Normal Finish
White collar promotes almost nobody early: 12.8% of its partners made it within 8 years, against 23.2% across all practices. Within 12 years the practice has caught up, at 72.8% against 75.4%.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Who Advises Governments in 2026: Disputes and Public Law, Not M&A
Public bodies buy disputes and public law, and almost no M&A: disputes and investigations were 44.6% of the sector's deals and M&A only 3.3%. The eight most active advisers to public bodies all sit in the same 21-40 band of deals, so no firm stands clear of the rest.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Who Advises Hospitals and Health Plans? One Firm, Several Bands Clear
One firm advises on far more hospital and health plan deals than any rival, and Nashville sits among the sector's deal cities next to New York and Washington. For a general counsel, that shapes conflicts, fees and the search for a credible second firm.
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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