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- Litigation Matters in 2026: No Client Industry Tops 5.7%
Recorded litigation matters are scattered across hundreds of clients and dozens of industries: banks, the largest client group, appear in only 5.7%. Matters rose 9.3% on settled windows, in step with litigation hiring, which rose 7.5%.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Litigation Partner Track by City 2026: Miami Early, Los Angeles Late
Litigation's median time to partner is 10.0 years, but the share of litigators promoted within 8 years runs from 12.0% in Los Angeles to 29.4% in Miami: the city sets the clock, not the practice.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Litigation Path to Partner in 2026: Same Median, Longer Tail
Litigation is the market's largest partner class, at 41.3% of promotions, and it promotes at the market's own make-or-buy balance. The difference is the slow end: the slowest quarter of litigation partners needs 13.0 years or more, against 12.0 years.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Logistics M&A Counsel in 2026: A Sector Where M&A Comes First
M&A is the most frequent deal type in transportation and logistics, at 26.7% of the sector's deals against 19.3% across the whole deal record, and corporate and M&A lawyers sit on 32.2% of the sector's work, ahead of capital markets.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - London Associate Market 2026: Banking and Funds Over-Index
Associates are 60.4% of London lateral moves, and those moves lean to finance: banking runs at an index of 178 against the market, funds at 164. Firms of 1,000+ lawyers take 68.5% of them.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - London Banking & Finance Hiring Held Flat as the Practice Rose 14.1%
Banking and finance moves into London were flat year on year, while finance moves across the market rose 14.1% and New York finance rose 28.5%. London still takes 16.4% of all finance moves, so the pause sits in a market that stays large.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - London Capital Markets Hiring: Debt-Led, More Mobile Than the City
London capital markets laterals changed city in 18.5% of moves, more than London's 15.2% but less than the practice's 23.8%. The work they bring is debt: London's index for debt capital markets moves is 240, against 102 for equity offerings.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - London Construction Hiring 2026: Counsel Carry More Weight
Construction hiring in London follows its practice, not its city: counsel take 15.8% of moves against 9.1% for London, and firms of 1,000+ lawyers take 49.1% against 68.5%.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - London Funds Lateral Market 2026: Top 10 Hirers Take 56.7%
In London funds and investment management, a short list of firms does most of the lateral hiring: the top 10 took 56.7% of moves, against 34.0% for the practice as a whole and 22.8% for London. Associates make up 62.2% of the market.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - London Lateral Partner Hiring 2026: A Sydney Pipeline, Flat Demand
London's lateral arrivals come from Sydney, New York, Dublin, Auckland and Melbourne, a feeder map no American city shares. Partner hiring itself was flat at +1.3%, and banking took 25.1% of partner hires against 15.5% across the market.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - London M&A Is an Associate Market: 63.5% of Lateral Moves
London Corporate and M&A hiring runs on associates: 63.5% of lateral moves, against 57.7% for the practice as a whole and 60.4% for London. Counsel are only 8.2% of moves, and just 9.2% brought a step up in title.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - London Private Equity Lateral Market 2026: The Largest Firms Hire
83.5% of London private equity laterals join firms of 1,000+ lawyers, against 71.6% for the practice as a whole and 68.5% for London. Over three years those firms took in 84.5% of these laterals and supplied 77.3%.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - London Projects Hiring: Outsized Share, Flat Partner Line in 2026
London carries far more projects hiring than its size predicts, an index of 147, and its projects laterals are more partner-heavy than the city's market. Partner hiring held flat in London and across the practice alike, and London's part of the practice's partner moves slipped from 18.1% to 15.1%.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - London Restructuring Laterals: 17.9% Join at a Higher Title
London restructuring hires step up in title more often than restructuring across the market or London as a whole: 17.9% against 16.5% and 11.5%. They do it with a partner-heavy mix and rarely change city.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - London Tax Partner Hiring Moved With the City, Not the Practice
Tax partner moves across the practice rose 27.7% year on year, while London tax partner moves held flat (-7.7%). All tax moves into London held flat (+0.0%) as well: the city's tax market followed London, not the practice.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - London's Tech Hiring Tilts to AI: Index 183, Privacy 135
London over-indexes on AI lateral moves at 183, well above its 135 on privacy and 132 on the practice. The London technology cell rose 50.0% year on year while the city held flat (-2.5%).
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Los Angeles Associate Market 2026: Smaller Firms, Few In-House Exits
Los Angeles lateral hiring runs through mid-size and smaller firms more than the market does: firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 47.0% of moves against 53.6%. And Los Angeles lawyers rarely leave for companies: 7.5 per hundred lateral moves, against 13.1 across the market.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Los Angeles Employment Hiring Is a Wage and Hour Market
Los Angeles takes 23.0% of wage and hour lateral moves, an index of 455 against 218 for employment overall, and wage and hour is a focus for 63.2% of the city's employment laterals against 47.7% in San Francisco.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Los Angeles Finance Deals Tilt to Leveraged Finance at 35.3%
Leveraged and acquisition finance carried 35.3% of Los Angeles finance deals over 3 years, against 23.4% across the practice over 12 months, where banking and lending leads at 44.5%. Financial sponsors are the city's largest client industry on those deals.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Los Angeles IP Hiring: Mid-Size and Smaller Firms Take Most Moves
Los Angeles intellectual property laterals join firms outside the 1,000+ lawyers class far more often than IP laterals elsewhere or Los Angeles laterals in general. The 3-year record leans the same way, and the work behind it is copyright and brand work.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Los Angeles Lateral Hiring Runs on Litigation and Class Actions
Litigation is involved in 59.4% of Los Angeles lateral moves, an index of 149 against the market, and class actions are a focus for 27.9% of the litigators who moved, against 12.3% in New York.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Los Angeles M&A Partner Track: Faster Than the City Around It
Los Angeles M&A lawyers reach partner sooner than the city's lawyers overall: 31.8% made it within 8 years, against 18.3% across Los Angeles and 29.5% across the M&A practice. The city's slow partner track is not an M&A problem.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Los Angeles Partner Hiring 2026: An Employment and Litigation Market
Los Angeles hires employment partners at an index of 231 and litigation partners at 145 against the market, while corporate (74) and banking (75) run below it. Firms here buy partners more than they promote them.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Los Angeles Product Liability Hiring: The Same Firms Keep Buying
The ten most active firms took 46.3% of Los Angeles product liability hires over 12 months and 45.6% over 3 years, against 16.7% and 14.9% for the city, and most of the same names top both lists. Firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 38.2% of the group's hires, against 47.0% across Los Angeles.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Los Angeles Real Estate Lateral Hiring in 2026: A Home-Grown Market
Los Angeles real estate groups hire lawyers who already practice in the city: fewer of their laterals changed city than real estate laterals across the practice or Los Angeles laterals overall, and a small group of firms takes a large share of the hires.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - M&A in 2026: More Clients Than Capital Markets, Fewer Repeat Deals
M&A has the widest client base of the transactional deal types: 5,239 distinct clients against 4,831 in capital markets, on fewer deals. The average M&A client appears on 1.8 deals a year, and the largest client sector holds 10.6% of the work.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - M&A Tax Lawyers in 2026: Rising Demand, Local Benches
Corporate and M&A tax hiring rose 22.6% on the settled year, yet only 12.0% of movers changed city, against 21.1% across tax and 20.5% in the market. New demand has to be met from each city's own bench.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - M&A, Disputes or Capital Markets: Transport Panels Need All Three
M&A appears on 26.7% of transport and logistics deals, disputes on 23.4% and capital markets on 22.9%: about a quarter each. The firms sit in two close bands, and the work runs through Frankfurt and Hong Kong as well as New York and London.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Making Partner in London Litigation: 12.0 years Against 11.0 years
London promotes its litigators later than its other lawyers: 10.7% reach partner within 8 years, against 18.7% across the city's practices. Litigation is also a small part of London lateral hiring, with an index of 47 against the market.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Making Partner in London: Private Equity Fast, Litigation Slow
In London, private equity partners were promoted within 8 years 3.4 times as often as litigators. Against Manchester, the only other UK city we can measure, the London median is 2 years shorter.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Making Partner in Texas: Houston Runs a Faster Clock Than Dallas
Houston and Dallas share a median time to partner of 10.0 years, but Houston clears more of its slower cases: 82.6% of its new partners arrive within 12 years against 76.9% in Dallas, and the split is widest in litigation.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Making Partner Within 8 Years: 31.8% in Private Equity, 10.1% in Trade
The early track to partnership belongs to the deal practices: private equity and corporate made 31.8% and 29.5% of their partners within 8 years, against 23.2% for all practices and 10.1% in international trade. Counted within 12 years, white collar has caught up with the market; immigration and family have not.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Manchester Associate Market 2026: Real Estate Over-Indexes
Real estate is involved in Manchester lateral moves at an index of 186 against the market, well above London's 109, and it holds 24 of the city's 188 open roles. Set against its lateral volume, Manchester lists far more openings than London.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Manchester Lateral Partner Market 2026: Nearly as Many Made as Bought
Manchester firms make about one partner from within for each partner they hire from outside, a ratio of 0.88 against 0.64 in London and 0.79 across the market. The hiring itself runs through firms of 400-999 lawyers, which took 56.8% of Manchester lateral moves.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Mass Tort Lawyer Jobs: A Day's Openings Beside a Year of Moves
Openings labelled mass torts stood at 834 on one day, beside 198 lateral moves in the speciality over 12 months: a stock next to a flow, not a measure of unmet demand. The moves lean to Chicago, at an index of 262 against the market.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Media and Entertainment Counsel: Its Own Firm List, Los Angeles Work
Only two of the ten firms most active on media and entertainment deals also rank in the market's top 10, and the first stands two bands clear of the rest. Disputes are the largest type at 39.8%, and lawyers in Los Angeles worked on media deals 1.9 times as often as on technology deals.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Media Capital Markets Counsel in 2026: Disputes Outrun Offerings
Media and entertainment work is fought more often than it is issued. Disputes lead the sector's deal mix at 39.8%, and capital markets lawyers, on 13.4% of its deals, rank third behind corporate and IP.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Media IP Counsel in 2026: Los Angeles Over-Indexes at 463
Los Angeles took 23.4% of the moves by lawyers with a media focus who changed firms, an index of 463 against the market, and 16.2% of media and entertainment deals were handled with lawyers in the city. IP lawyers sat on 26.3% of the sector's deals, so a media company buying IP counsel is buying a bench that works and moves in Los Angeles.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Medical Device Capital Markets Counsel: Two Different Benches
Capital markets lawyers sit on 44.4% of medical device deals. The device-focused lawyers who changed firms were a litigation, intellectual property and health care bench, and 63.3% of them were partners, against 31.5% of capital markets laterals.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Medical Device Deals in 2026: Capital Markets Ahead of M&A
In medical devices the M&A bench is the second bench: capital markets lawyers sit on 44.4% of the sector's deals and corporate lawyers on 28.8%, a gap of 15.6 points. Across all dated deals the same gap is 3.1 points.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Medical Device Patents: Fewer Partners on the Move, Down 29.6%
Partner moves in mechanical and medical device patent work fell 29.6% year on year, from 54 to 38. Hiring at all levels held flat (-8.1%), and partner hiring in intellectual property held flat (+8.0%): the drop is a partner story.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Medical Malpractice Lawyers: Health-Care Matters, Mid-Size Hirers
Medical malpractice work is health-care work: 60.9% of the speciality's matters over three years involved health-care providers and payors. The hiring runs through firms of 150-399 lawyers, with 32.7% of moves against 13.3% market-wide, and hiring held flat (-15.1%) over the year.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Merger Control Hiring: Brussels at the Center
Merger control hiring is a Brussels market: the city took 23.9% of moves, an index of 2,783 against the market, and the top 10 hirers took 50.0%. Year on year, hiring held flat (-7.9%).
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Miami Associate Hiring 2026: An Insurance-Defense Lateral Market
Miami lateral hiring leans on defense work: product liability is involved in moves at 2.9 times its market share, and insurance close behind. Few Miami lawyers leave for companies, so the associates a firm wants sit at other firms.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Miami Lateral Partner Market 2026: Lateral Hiring Runs on Relocation
Miami fills its benches from other cities: 66 lawyers arrived from elsewhere in 12 months and 37 left, with New York the largest single source. Lateral partner hiring rose on top of that inflow.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Miami Litigation Partner Hiring Runs Through a Short List of Firms
Sartori & Partners data show 47 litigation partners joined Miami firms laterally in 12 months, and most of them went to a handful of buyers. Partner hiring here is tighter than across the practice and tighter than in Miami as a whole, while more of the movers come from other cities than in litigation elsewhere.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Miami Product Liability Takes 19.9% of the City's Lateral Moves
Product liability and torts weighs far more in Miami than market-wide: the city's index in the practice is 289. Over the settled 12 months Miami product liability moves rose 44.2%, while the practice held flat (+2.3%).
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Midsize Law Firms Made 29.5% of New Partners on 23.4% of Hires
Firms of 400-999 lawyers made 871 of the 2,955 lawyers promoted to partner, 29.5%, while taking 23.4% of lateral arrivals, and firms of 150-399 lawyers made partners earliest. Midsize firms make their partners; the largest firms lean more on the lateral market.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Midsize Law Firms: Absent From the Top 10, Ahead on Narrower Lists
Firms of 400-999 lawyers took 23.4% of lateral hires, and every firm in the market top 10 has 1,000+ lawyers. The midsize class surfaces on narrower lists instead, and the firms named there hire partners at well above the market rate of 27.7%.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Midwest Time to Partner: Minneapolis Fast, Columbus Litigators Slow
Minneapolis made 34.3% of its new partners within 8 years, more than any other US city we publish. Litigators in Columbus made 11.9%. The region runs on two very different partner clocks.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Milan Associate Market 2026: A Narrow Field of Hiring Firms
A short list of international firms takes most lateral hires in Milan, a tighter grip than in Paris or London. Deal work comes second: private equity runs at an index of 235 against the market, above London at 144 and Paris at 217.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Milan Lateral Partner Market 2026: Fewer Moves, a Home-Grown Pool
Milan lateral hiring fell 24.5% between the settled 12-month windows while the market rose 9.0%, a steeper drop than in Paris, while London held level. Partner hiring held near its earlier count, and the pool is local: 64.9% of arrivals over three years had left a job in Milan.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Mining Capital Markets Counsel in 2026: Five Firms on Both Lists
Five firms sit among the ten most active on mining deals and among the ten most active on capital markets deals. The mining list's first firm stands alone in the 61-100 band, above eight firms in 21-40, and is not on the capital markets list.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Mining Lawyers Move Up When They Move: Far Above the Market Rate
Over 36 months, 19.1% of mining lawyers who changed firms stepped up a title, against 12.3% across the market. The movers are mostly partners, spread across projects, corporate and regulatory work, and London is their first city: a mining company hiring from firms competes with promotion, not only pay.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Minneapolis Associate Market 2026: Higher Titles on 20.8% of Moves
About one Minneapolis lateral move in five came with a higher title over 12 months (20.8%), against 12.9% across the market and 8.4% in Chicago. Over three years the city still runs above the market, and employment work scores 176 on the market index.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Minneapolis Lateral Partner Market 2026: A City That Hires in Teams
Minneapolis hires in teams: 17.9% of its lateral moves arrived with a group, 11.9 times the market rate. Its lawyers also leave for companies at 2.5 times the market pace.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Minneapolis Litigation Hiring: Counsel Take 23.3% of Moves
Minneapolis litigation hires counsel at 1.6 times the practice rate: 23.3% of lateral moves against 14.4%. Volume rose 76.5% on the settled 12-month windows, while litigation across the practice rose 7.5%.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Montreal Law Firm Partner Market 2026: Corporate Heavy, Partner Light
Corporate work turns up in Montreal lateral hiring at an index of 188 against the market, above Toronto's 140, while partners were only 17.6% of Montreal moves, against 24.6% in Toronto and 27.7% market-wide. Total moves rose 45.8% on the settled year.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Munich Lateral Partner Market 2026: A Partner-Led Corporate City
Partners took 42.5% of Munich lateral moves in 12 months, well above Frankfurt, London and the market. Corporate work is involved in most of those partner moves, and private equity runs at about four times its market share (index 409).
November 11, 2026 · November 2026 - Municipal Lawyers in 2026: A Smaller-Firm Market
Municipal and local government lawyers who change firms mostly join mid-sized platforms: firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 22.9% of their moves in 12 months, against 38.5% across public law and 53.6% in the whole market.
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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