Export Controls and Sanctions: The Core of Trade Hiring

Sartori & Partners data show that sanctions and export controls lawyers made 69.8% of the lateral moves in the international trade and national security practice in the 12 months to October 2026. Put simply: of every move recorded in trade, most were made by lawyers whose own work is sanctions, export licensing and controls on technology. Any plan for sanctions lawyers hiring is therefore a plan for most of the trade bench.

This report reads the speciality against its practice and against the whole market. Three features stand out: how tightly it sits in one city, how fast partner hiring has moved, and how much of it goes to the largest firms.

The figure answers one question: when a lawyer moved within the trade practice, how often was sanctions and export controls that lawyer's focus? In 69.8% of cases it was. Customs, tariffs, trade remedies and foreign investment review all sit in the same practice, yet the hiring record is driven by the sanctions and controls side.

The speciality also shapes the practice's profile. Partners were 46.5% of sanctions and export controls moves, against 40.6% for the trade practice and 27.7% for the market. Associates were 40.7%, against 58.5% across all practices.

For a firm building a trade group, the order of hires follows from this. The first lateral is a sanctions or export controls lawyer in most cases, and a group that lacks one is missing the work most of the market is moving for.

Washington, DC took half of the speciality's lateral moves in the 12 months, 50.0%, against 5.6% of all moves in the market. That gives an index of 892 against the market. The trade practice's own Washington index is 876, on a share of 49.1%: the speciality is even more tied to the capital than the practice that contains it.

No other city reaches a publishable count in the 12 months. Over three years, Washington, DC took 43.1% of the speciality's moves and London 12.9%. For the trade practice over the same three years the shares were 44.6% and 10.3%.

Candidates rarely relocate for these roles. Only 11.3% of sanctions and export controls movers also changed city, against 20.5% in the market. A firm without a Washington office competes for a small pool elsewhere; London is the only other city with a published count over three years, and it is the place to open a search abroad.

In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, sanctions and export controls partner moves went from 25 to 41 across the two settled 12-month windows: partner hiring rose 64.0%. Hiring at all levels went from 72 to 93, and that count held flat (+29.2%): on counts this size, the gap does not clear chance.

The partner rise is the speciality's own. Over the same windows the trade practice's partner hiring held flat (+28.6%) and its hiring at all levels held flat (+6.2%). Across all practices, partner hiring rose 8.4% and total hiring rose 9.0%.

Moves also bring a better title more often than usual: 16.3% of sanctions and export controls movers joined at a higher title than the one they left, against 13.2% in trade and 12.9% in the market. Seniority is part of the price of a move here. A partner search in this field now meets more rival offers than a year ago, and a firm that waits will price against a busier market.

Among moves where the hiring firm's size is known, firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 67.4% of sanctions and export controls hires in the 12 months, against 66.0% for the trade practice and 53.6% for the market. Over three years the speciality's figure was 64.9%, so the weight toward the largest platforms is not new.

Hiring is also concentrated by name. Sartori & Partners counted 45 firms that hired at least one lawyer in the speciality, and the ten most active took 43.0% of individual hires, against 39.6% for the trade practice and 12.9% for the market. Greenberg Traurig ranks first, in the 6-10 band, ahead of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, in the same band.

Over three years Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld ranked first, in the 6-10 band, with Steptoe second. A firm of 400-999 lawyers, which took 19.8% of the speciality's hires, will meet these names on most partner searches and should frame its offer around what a smaller platform gives: a larger role in the group and a shorter line to clients.

First, treat sanctions and export controls as the center of any trade hiring plan: it holds 69.8% of the practice's lateral moves. Second, recruit in Washington, DC, where 50.0% of the speciality's hires joined, and look to London as the only other hub with a record over three years. Candidates rarely move city, so a firm without a presence in either place should expect a long search.

Third, move on partner hires now. Partner hiring rose 64.0% while hiring at all levels held flat (+29.2%), so the contest is at the top of the bench, where firms of 1,000+ lawyers already take 67.4% of the moves. Fourth, budget for a title step: 16.3% of movers joined at a higher title.