Growth Equity Lawyers in 2026: Between Buyout and Venture

Growth equity lawyers work in the space between a control buyout and a venture round, and the deal record shows it. Sartori & Partners data show that 44.8% of the 1,094 dated growth and minority investment deals of the past 3 years were private equity deals, and 25.9% were venture and growth financings. In the buyout speciality, private equity deals make up 52.9% of the record; in venture capital and startups, venture and growth financings make up 87.4%. For a firm hiring here, that mix defines the candidate: someone whose deal sheet carries both sponsor-side minority stakes and later-stage rounds, rather than a pure buyout or pure venture profile.

Private equity deals made up 44.8% of growth and minority investment deals over 3 years. That share sits 8.1 points below the buyout speciality, where the next deal type on the list is M&A at 10.5%. The venture side is where the speciality parts company with buyouts. Venture and growth financings account for 25.9% of growth and minority deals, against 87.4% in venture capital, so the work takes in part of the venture flow without turning into a venture practice.

These are shares of all dated deals, and some deals carry no type, so the figures are not a split of the whole. The practical test for a hiring partner is the venture content of a candidate's matters. With almost no financings on the sheet, the lawyer is a buyout lawyer under another label. With mostly financings, the sponsor relationships that pay for this work may be thin.

The client side tells the same story. Financial sponsors were a client in 73.3% of growth and minority investment deals over 3 years, against 90.5% in buyouts, a gap of 17.2 points. Other clients show up more often than in buyout work: asset management and funds clients appear in 4.7% of growth deals, against 1.6%, and technology and software companies in 4.2%, against 1.8%.

The venture client base is a different world. In venture capital and startups, technology and software companies are a client in 44.2% of deals, so growth work keeps a sponsor core and borrows only a small slice of the venture client set. A partner who brings growth work brings, in most cases, sponsor clients. A firm that already advises funds on buyouts can place such a partner without building a new client base; a firm whose corporate group serves technology companies should not count on much overlap.

Where the deal mix sits between its two neighbors, the hiring market does not. In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 81.9% of growth and minority investment lateral hires in 12 months, against 80.0% in buyouts, 51.1% in venture capital and 53.6% across the market. Firms of 400-999 lawyers took 9.6%, against 27.2% in venture capital.

The candidates also come from large platforms. Over 3 years, 81.7% of growth and minority laterals had left a firm of 1,000+ lawyers, against 56.6% of all laterals in the market. The level mix, by contrast, does fall between the neighbors. Partners were 44.9% of growth and minority laterals in 12 months, against 49.0% in buyouts and 31.9% in venture capital; the private equity practice runs at 38.1% and the market at 27.7%. A firm smaller than 1,000+ lawyers that wants a growth equity partner is competing with very large platforms for a senior candidate, and the mid-size firms that hire many venture lawyers are a minor factor here.

Concentration is the second feature that sets this speciality apart. The ten most active hirers took 45.2% of growth and minority investment laterals in 12 months, against 27.0% in the private equity practice, 36.4% in buyouts and 36.9% in venture capital. Across the market the ten most active firms took 12.9%, so the growth figure is 3.5 times the market's. Only 64 firms hired at least one growth and minority lateral in the period. Among partners the pattern is sharper still: the ten most active took 50.0% of partner hires, against 28.0% in private equity.

The list mixes the two worlds. Latham & Watkins heads it, in the 11-20 band, and most of the names also appear among the buyout hirers. The venture capital list is headed by Cooley, which ranks 6th among growth and minority hirers. Over 3 years the ten most active took 34.2%, so the last 12 months are more concentrated than the longer record. A firm outside this group should expect a credible candidate to be weighing an offer from at least one firm on it, and should plan the timetable and the package with that in mind.

Volume has not moved beyond the noise. Growth and minority investment lateral hiring held flat (+20.6%) year on year, with 158 moves in the 12 months to September 2026 against 131 in the year before; at counts this small, a gap of that size is within what chance alone produces. Buyout hiring held flat (+8.0%) and venture capital hiring held flat (-0.6%) over the same windows, while the private equity practice rose 14.9% and the market rose 9.0%.

New York took 18.0% of growth and minority hires in 12 months and London 15.0%. London's index of 162 against the market sits between buyouts, at 234, and venture capital, at 90: the same in-between position as the deal mix. Over 3 years Boston, at 6.4%, and San Francisco, at 5.1%, also show among the cities joined, against 2.9% and 2.0% in the private equity practice.

A firm building growth capability should look first in New York and London, and treat Boston and San Francisco as the markets where growth work leans toward the venture side. In those two cities the candidate pool overlaps with venture practices more than it does elsewhere, which widens the search but also adds competition from firms that do not hire buyout lawyers at all.

Screen on the deal sheet first. With 44.8% of the speciality's deals in private equity and 25.9% in venture and growth financings, the right candidate shows both. A partner who has only done control deals will compete with your buyout bench; one who has only done venture rounds may not bring the sponsor clients that sit behind most of this work.

Plan for a market run by large platforms and a small number of hirers. Firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 81.9% of growth and minority laterals, and the ten most active firms 45.2%. A firm outside that circle wins a candidate on a specific offer: a sponsor client base the partner can serve from day one, or room to lead a minority-investment group instead of supporting a buyout team.

Do not wait for a hiring wave. Sartori & Partners data show volume steady over the past two 12-month windows, at 158 moves against 131, so the pool will not deepen on its own. A firm that needs this capability in the next year should start the search now, in New York and London first.