Commercial Contracts · speciality monitor
Franchising: lateral monitor
Lawyers whose work centers on Franchising and who changed firm over the last 12 months, set against the Commercial Contracts practice and the market.
The last 12 months: November 2025 to October 2026
- 25
- Lateral moves, 12 monthsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- +12.5%
- Year on yearSettled 12-month windows
- 44.0%
- Partner share of moves
- 20
- Firms that hired
What the data show
In the Sartori & Partners lateral record, 25 lawyers joined a new firm in Franchising from November 2025 to October 2026. On settled windows the count went from 24 to 27 (+12.5%), a change inside the noise of the two counts, so we read it as flat.
| Measure | Here | Commercial Contracts | Market |
|---|---|---|---|
| Partner share of moves | 44.0% | 32.2% | 27.7% |
| Counsel share of moves (three years) | 13.9% | 11.8% | 12.1% |
| Associate share of moves | 48.0% | 53.4% | 58.5% |
| Moved up a level | 20.0% | 18.6% | 12.9% |
| Changed city (three years) | 19.7% | 24.4% | 21.6% |
| Hired by firms of 1,000+ lawyers | 52.0% | 45.3% | 53.6% |
| Year on year | flat (+12.5%) | flat (+15.7%) | rose (+9.0%) |
12 months to October 2026 unless the row says three years; a row switches to three years for every column when this page's 12-month value is not published. A dash is a value we do not publish. Flat means a change under 5% or inside the noise of the two counts.
Against the Commercial Contracts practice as a whole, the widest gap is the partner share, which is higher here: 44.0% against 32.2%. Year on year it moved with the Commercial Contracts practice as a whole: both flat.
Over the three years to October 2026, 79 lawyers moved in Franchising, 33 of them partners (41.8%). They joined 50 different firms. 12.7% stepped up a level on the move and 19.7% changed city, against 12.3% and 21.6% across the market over the same three years. 49.1% came from firms with 1,000+ lawyers.
- Partner44.0%
- Associate48.0%
This is a partner market: 44.0% of movers were partners, against 27.7% market-wide. 20.0% of movers stepped up a level when they changed firm, against 12.9% for the market.
- 1,000+ lawyers52.0%
- 400-999 lawyers32.0%
The 12-month firm table is below our naming threshold, so this part reads the three years to October 2026. 50 firms hired at least one lateral in Franchising in the window. The ten firms at the head of the hiring table took 42.3% of arrivals (12.2% market-wide), so hiring here is concentrated. Osborne Clarke ranks first by lateral arrivals, in the 6-10 band.
- 1,000+ lawyers49.1%
- 400-999 lawyers20.0%
- 150-399 lawyers16.4%
- under 150 lawyers14.5%
There were 59 open roles in Franchising on law-firm career pages on November 11, 2026.
For a firm planning a hire in Franchising, a flat market means candidates are not being pulled by a wave: the case for a move has to come from the platform.
Firms by rank and band
Each firm appears as a rank and a band, never an exact count, and only with at least 10 moves in the window.
| Rank | Firm | Moves (band) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Osborne Clarke | 6-10 |
| 2 | CMS | 3-5 |
| 3 | Greenberg Traurig | 3-5 |
| 4 | Akerman | 3-5 |
| 5 | Spencer Fane | 3-5 |
| 6 | DLA Piper | 3-5 |
| 7 | Fieldfisher | 3-5 |
Deals in Franchising
Sartori & Partners data count 20 over the three years to October 2026.
Bech-Bruun ranks first among advising firms over the period, in the 6-10 band.
| Rank | Firm | Deals (band) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bech-Bruun | 6-10 |
| 2 | Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner | 3-5 |
Time to partner in Franchising
38 lawyers were promoted to partner in Franchising over five years, according to Sartori & Partners data.
The median time from first year of practice to partner is 9.0 years, with the middle half between 8.0 years and 11.2 years, against a market median of 10.0 years. 83.3% made partner within 12 years.
These figures rest on 24 promotions.
Related monitors and reports
Other specialities in Commercial Contracts
Hiring in this market
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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