Government and Internal Investigations Hiring: A Washington Market

The government investigations lawyers Washington DC offices recruited over the last 12 months account for 24.1% of every lateral move in the speciality, Sartori & Partners data show. That is 102 of 424 moves, and it gives the capital an index of 430 against the whole market, where Washington holds only 5.6% of lateral moves. New York, by far the larger lateral market, sits at an index of 120 for the same work. Few specialities tie themselves this closely to one city, and that tie should shape how a firm plans its next investigations hire.

The pull is not confined to a niche. Government and internal investigations makes up 68.7% of moves in the white-collar, investigations and criminal practice, so its map is close to the whole practice's map. The sections below measure how strong the Washington anchor is, how seldom investigations lawyers leave their city when they switch firms, who moves, and which platforms do the hiring.

Washington takes 24.1% of government and internal investigations moves; New York takes 17.7%. Across all practices the order is reversed and the gap is wide: New York holds 14.8% of lateral moves and Washington 5.6%. The broader white-collar practice leans the same way, with Washington at 19.7% and an index of 351. Fraud and false claims work lands there at 24.0%, an index of 428, almost exactly the speciality's own level.

The reason is structural. Investigations work follows the agencies that open the files: the Justice Department, the securities regulator, inspectors general and congressional committees sit in the capital, and so do many of the partners who defend companies before them. London is the outlier at the other end, with 4.7% of investigations moves and an index of 51, well under its weight in the lateral market. Chicago, at an index of 139, and Los Angeles, at 121, run modestly above theirs.

For a firm building an investigations bench, the consequence is direct: the Washington seat is the core hire, and every other office is a satellite to it. A New York group without a Washington partner covers the enforcement docket from a distance.

Only 12.5% of government and internal investigations laterals moved to a new city when they changed firms, against 20.5% across the market. The white-collar practice as a whole sits at 15.6%, and fraud and false claims at 12.0%. Over 3 years the speciality's rate was 16.9%, so the latest 12 months are more local than the longer record.

Staying put has gone with a tighter hold by Washington. In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, Washington took 19.8% of the speciality's 1,227 moves over 3 years and New York 17.1%. In the last 12 months Washington's share reached 24.1%, while New York held close to its 3-year level at 17.7%. The white-collar practice as a whole still put New York first over 3 years, at 17.0% against 16.3% for Washington.

Taken together, the figures describe a closed circuit. Investigations movers stay in their city more often than the practice's 15.6% would suggest, and Washington's index for the speciality, 430, sits above the practice's 351. A firm without a Washington investigations group will rarely staff one by relocating partners from other offices; it will recruit from a Washington rival, and it should expect that rival to counter.

Partners accounted for 47.6% of government and internal investigations moves in the last 12 months, against 27.7% in the market and 41.6% across the white-collar practice. Associates were 41.3%, well under the market's 58.5%. Fraud and false claims is more senior again, with partners at 56.6% of its moves.

Promotion on the move is uncommon: 13.7% of investigations laterals joined at a higher title, close to the market's 12.9%. Partner hiring in the speciality held flat (+10.6%) year on year, 198 partner moves against 179. A senior flow changes the economics of a search. Partner candidates bring client relationships and agency experience and weigh guarantees and platform fit, while associates make up a thinner slice of the flow, so a firm short of mid-level investigations associates may find fewer of them in motion than in general litigation.

Government and internal investigations makes up 68.7% of white-collar, investigations and criminal moves, Sartori & Partners figures show, while fraud and false claims, a narrower group, makes up 22.1%. One lawyer can carry both labels, so those shares overlap and are not a split of the practice.

Hiring in the speciality held flat (+12.0%) year on year, 429 moves against 383, and hiring across the white-collar practice held flat (+8.2%) on 473 moves against 437. Calendar years point the same way, with 420 investigations moves in 2024 and 388 in 2025. For planning, this is a steady market rather than a rising one: the number of investigations lawyers moving each year is not growing fast enough to ease competition for the ones who do.

Firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 56.8% of investigations moves, above the market's 53.6%, and firms of under 150 lawyers took 5.4% against 9.7%. The top 10 hirers made 21.8% of the speciality's hires, against 12.9% for the market's top 10, out of 170 firms that hired at least one investigations lawyer.

Greenberg Traurig heads the list, followed by Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and Barnes & Thornburg, all three in the 11-20 band of hires. Counting partners alone, Barnes & Thornburg ranks first. An investigations partner with a portable practice can expect approaches from several of these platforms; a smaller firm competes on role, autonomy and a cleaner conflicts position rather than on reach.

Treat Washington as the home market. It takes 24.1% of government and internal investigations moves at an index of 430, and only 12.5% of movers change city, so the candidates a firm wants are already in Washington and already employed by a competitor. Plan a partner-led search: partners are 47.6% of the flow against 27.7% in the market, and the largest platforms set the terms.

Use New York, at an index of 120, as the second pool rather than a substitute for the first. Firms that want investigations capacity outside the two coasts' main centers should look at Chicago and Los Angeles, which over-index at 139 and 121, and should expect to build there from local litigators rather than by moving a Washington partner. In London, where the index is 51, an investigations hire is more likely to come from a disputes or regulatory bench than from a straight lateral in the speciality.