Corporate & M&A Tax: lateral monitor

In the Sartori & Partners lateral record, 180 lawyers joined a new firm in Corporate & M&A Tax from November 2025 to October 2026. Measured on settled 12-month windows, 190 moves against 155 the year before, the count rose 22.6%. It outpaced the market's own change of +9.0%.

Over the three years to October 2026, 500 lawyers moved in Corporate & M&A Tax, 214 of them partners (42.8%). They joined 205 different firms. 16.2% stepped up a level on the move and 15.5% changed city, against 12.3% and 21.6% across the market over the same three years. 59.5% came from firms with 1,000+ lawyers.

This is a partner market: 46.7% of movers were partners, against 27.7% market-wide. On settled windows partner moves alone went from 68 to 87 (+27.9%), a change inside the noise of the two counts, so we read it as flat. A step up in title came with 13.9% of moves (market 12.9%).

Lateral hires in Corporate & M&A Tax were spread across 107 firms. The ten firms at the head of the hiring table took 28.9% of arrivals (12.9% market-wide), so hiring here is moderately concentrated. White & Case ranks first by lateral arrivals, in the 6-10 band.

By city, New York comes first (16.7% of arrivals), then London (11.1%). A change of city came with 12.0% of moves (market 20.5%).

There were 243 open roles in Corporate & M&A Tax on law-firm career pages on November 11, 2026.

A firm recruiting in Corporate & M&A Tax is buying into a rising, partner-heavy flow, so the strongest candidates will hear from more than one firm.

Sartori & Partners data count 42 dated deals in Corporate & M&A Tax in the 12 months to October 2026 and 119 over the three years to October 2026.

M&A work is involved in 45.4% of them.

By client industry, Financial Sponsors comes first with 23.5%.

Flick Gocke Schaumburg ranks first among advising firms over the period, in the 11-20 band.