Health Care Fraud Lawyers: A Few Firms Do Most of the Hiring

Hiring of health care fraud lawyers runs through a short list of firms. Sartori & Partners data show that the top 10 hirers took 44.8% of the 87 lateral moves in this specialty over the 12 months to October 2026. Across the health care practice as a whole, the top 10 took 25.0%, and across all practices 12.9%. For a firm planning a fraud and abuse hire, the candidates it wants are being courted by the same small group of buyers, and partners make up a larger part of the moves than in the wider practice.

The 87 fraud and abuse moves of the last 12 months went to 49 firms. In the health care practice, 419 moves were spread over 205 firms. The top 10 share in the specialty sits 19.8 points above the practice and 31.9 points above the whole market. Fraud and abuse lawyers made up 19.3% of the moves recorded under the health care practice, so this is a sizeable part of that practice with its own, narrower set of buyers.

Size tilts the same way. Among moves to firms whose size is known, 50.6% went to firms of 1,000+ lawyers and 33.3% to firms of 400-999 lawyers, against 48.5% and 26.0% in the practice. Mid-size and large platforms do most of the buying.

The firm ranked first, Bass, Berry & Sims, sits in the 6-10 band of hires, and every other named firm sits in the 3-5 band. The same firm ranks 1st in the health care practice list. For a firm outside this group, the practical point is timing: a fraud and abuse partner worth approaching has often already heard from one of these buyers, so the first serious conversation should come with a defined role and a clear view of the platform.

The three-year window confirms that this is not a one-year quirk. Over three years the top 10 hirers took 27.5% of 241 fraud and abuse moves, while the top 10 in the health care practice took 17.9% of its moves over the same three years. In each window, then, a short list does a large part of the hiring, and the specialty stays more concentrated than its practice. The three-year figure is not an earlier level of the 12-month one: it covers a different span and more firms, 118 in all.

Six of the nine firms named over 12 months also appear in the three-year list, among them Polsinelli, ranked 3rd over three years. The buyers are a stable group. A firm entering this market competes with firms that have hired the profile year after year and know how to integrate it, which argues for a written business plan before the first approach rather than after.

The mix is senior. Partners made up 50.6% of fraud and abuse moves over 12 months, against 36.3% in the health care practice and 27.7% across all practices. Associates were 35.6% of moves, against 50.1% in the practice. Over three years the partner share was 51.5%, against 37.1% for the practice in the same window, so the tilt toward partners is lasting.

Partner hiring in the specialty held flat (+21.1%), at 46 partner moves in the latest settled 12 months against 38 a year earlier. Step-ups are also more common: 18.4% of fraud and abuse moves came with a higher title, against 13.6% in the practice. A firm building this bench should budget for a partner hire, and expect some senior counsel candidates to ask for the partner title as the price of the move.

Over three years, 15.8% of fraud and abuse moves landed in Washington, DC, against 11.4% for the health care practice. New York and Boston follow, each with 9.1% of the specialty's moves. Boston stands out: its share of health care practice moves over the same years was 4.1%.

A search for this profile starts in Washington, DC, where the enforcement agencies sit and where the specialty's share runs above the practice's. Boston is the second place to look, ahead of what its weight in the wider practice would suggest. New York carries a similar share of the specialty's moves but a smaller lead over the practice, at 7.9% there.

In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, the latest settled 12 months hold 92 fraud and abuse moves against 72 a year earlier: hiring held flat (+27.8%), a gap inside the noise at counts this small. The health care practice rose 14.5%, from 379 to 434 moves, and the whole market rose 9.0%.

The yearly counts tell the same story: 79 moves in 2024 and 74 in 2025, with 81 so far in 2026. Demand is steady rather than surging. There is no wave to wait for, so a firm that plans its fraud and abuse hire over several months is better placed than one that waits for the market to open.

Sartori & Partners records 50 fraud and abuse matters for the last 12 months. Over three years, 92.2% of the specialty's matters on record were disputes and investigations, and 55.6% involved clients in Healthcare Providers & Payors. The profile a firm buys is a contentious one: government investigations, qui tam defense, and audits for hospitals, health systems and insurers. A candidate's matters with these clients are the test to apply, more than a general health care regulatory background.

First, know the competition before the first call. The top 10 hirers took 44.8% of fraud and abuse moves, so most strong candidates are already in conversation with a firm in that list; an approach needs a concrete role, a clear client fit and a fast decision process.

Second, plan for a partner. With partners at 50.6% of moves, a fraud and abuse bench is mostly built at the top. Growing one internally is slow: lawyers in this specialty promoted to partner took a median of 10.0 years from their first year of practice.

Third, search where the work sits. Over three years Washington, DC took 15.8% of moves, and Boston matched New York. A firm without a Washington office should weigh whether the hire can serve its clients from elsewhere, because most of the candidate pool is there.