AML and Financial Crime Hiring Starts in London

Sartori & Partners data show that London is where hiring of anti money laundering lawyers begins: over 3 years the city took 20.9% of the 182 AML and financial crime lateral moves we recorded. The parent practice reads very differently. In white collar, investigations and criminal work, London drew only 7.2% of moves over the same period, and the practice is centered on New York and Washington, DC. For a firm building a financial crime bench, that gap decides where the first search goes, and it means a London-based compliance and enforcement partner is the profile with the deepest pool behind it.

Set side by side, the two city lists over 3 years show how far AML work sits from the rest of white collar. London's AML share of 20.9% is 2.9 times its white collar share and 13.7 points above it. Against the whole lateral market the city still stands out: London took 10.0% of all moves over 3 years, 10.9 points below its AML share. A firm that benchmarks its AML hiring plan against white collar figures will underweight London, and a firm that benchmarks it against the market will still underweight it.

In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, London was also the most common city AML laterals came from, at 17.6% of moves over 3 years, against 5.6% for the white collar practice. The candidates and the demand sit in the same city. For a hiring partner, the practical reading is simple: a London AML search competes with other London firms for London candidates, so the offer has to win on terms, not on access.

Washington, DC took 15.4% of AML moves over 3 years and New York 13.7%. In white collar as a whole the same two cities took 16.3% and 17.0%, so the American hubs hold roughly the share they hold in the parent practice while London carries the surplus. Together, London, Washington and New York took 50% of AML moves; the rest is spread across cities with far fewer moves each. A firm that hires AML lawyers on both sides of the Atlantic should plan two separate searches with different comparators, not one global brief. Over 3 years only 14.8% of AML movers with known cities changed city, against 18.5% in white collar.

Partners made up 62.5% of AML and financial crime moves in the last 12 months. The white collar practice ran at 41.6% and the whole market at 27.7%, so AML hiring is 2.3 times as partner-heavy as the market. The mix is not a one-year reading: over 3 years partners were 57.1% of AML moves against 40.1% in white collar. Associates were 23.4% of AML moves in 12 months, against 45.2% across the practice. Lateral partner hiring held flat (+25.8%), with 39 partner moves in the latest settled 12 months against 31 a year earlier.

For a firm, a partner-heavy market means fewer junior candidates to backfill a team and a longer search for anyone senior with a portable regulatory practice. Budget time for the partner hire and grow the associate layer internally.

21.9% of AML lateral moves in 12 months saw the lawyer join at a higher title, against 13.4% in white collar and 12.9% in the market. The pattern holds over 3 years, at 20.9% for AML against 14.8% for the practice. A step up means an associate or counsel joining as partner, or an associate joining as counsel, and in AML it happens more often than elsewhere in white collar. For the internal pipeline, compare that with promotion timing: over 5 years the median AML lawyer made partner after 11.0 years of practice, and 66.0% did so within 12 years. A firm that cannot match a title offer should expect to lose the candidate to one that can, so decide on the title before the search opens.

Sartori & Partners counted 64 AML and financial crime lateral moves in the 12 months to October 2026, joining 46 different firms. Year on year, hiring held flat (+21.8%), with 67 moves in the latest settled 12 months against 55 the year before. The white collar practice was flat as well, at 473 against 437, while the whole lateral market rose 9.0%. AML moves recorded under the white collar practice equal 13.4% of that practice's moves.

Over 3 years the ten most active hirers took 27.5% of AML moves, against 16.1% in white collar and 12.2% across the market. That is a more concentrated field than the parent practice, but no single firm dominates it: the first-ranked hirer sits in the 6-10 band of hires over 3 years.

With volume this small, each hire is a targeted approach to a known name rather than a pick from an open pool. A firm that wants an AML partner should map the London and Washington candidates by name before it briefs anyone.

Start in London. Over 3 years the city took 20.9% of AML moves, far above its 7.2% share of white collar, so a London search reaches the largest single group of candidates. Treat Washington and New York as a separate brief with their own comparators. Expect to hire a partner: 62.5% of moves in 12 months were at partner level. Be ready to offer a step up, since 21.9% of AML laterals got one. And plan for a slow search, because hiring was flat and the volume is small enough that a search often turns on a handful of names.