Product Liability & Torts · speciality monitor
Personal Injury & Wrongful Death: lateral monitor
Lawyers whose work centers on Personal Injury & Wrongful Death and who changed firm over the last 12 months, set against the Product Liability & Torts practice and the market.
The last 12 months: November 2025 to October 2026
- 287
- Lateral moves, 12 monthsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- -2.0%
- Year on yearSettled 12-month windows
- 32.4%
- Partner share of moves
- 100
- Firms that hired
What the data show
Sartori & Partners data show 287 lateral moves in Personal Injury & Wrongful Death from November 2025 to October 2026. Year on year the count held level (303 to 297 on settled windows, -2.0%). It fell behind the market's own change of +9.0%.
| Measure | Here | Product Liability & Torts | Market |
|---|---|---|---|
| Partner share of moves | 32.4% | 27.3% | 27.7% |
| Counsel share of moves | 19.5% | 16.8% | 12.7% |
| Associate share of moves | 48.1% | 55.8% | 58.5% |
| Moved up a level | 19.5% | 15.7% | 12.9% |
| Changed city | 20.9% | 19.7% | 20.5% |
| Hired by firms of 1,000+ lawyers | 38.3% | 40.7% | 53.6% |
| Year on year | flat (-2.0%) | flat (+2.3%) | 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 A dash is a value we do not publish.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 Product Liability & Torts practice as a whole, the widest gap is the associate share, which is lower here: 48.1% against 55.8%. Year on year it moved with the Product Liability & Torts practice as a whole: both flat.
Over the three years to October 2026, 906 lawyers moved in Personal Injury & Wrongful Death, 302 of them partners (33.3%). They joined 215 different firms. 15.9% stepped up a level on the move and 20.7% changed city, against 12.3% and 21.6% across the market over the same three years. 32.0% came from firms with 1,000+ lawyers.
Latest: 28 in Aug 26
Show the numbers
| Month | Value |
|---|---|
| Jan 25 | 34 |
| Feb 25 | 28 |
| Mar 25 | 29 |
| Apr 25 | 21 |
| Jul 25 | 30 |
| Aug 25 | 39 |
| Sep 25 | 33 |
| Oct 25 | 22 |
| Nov 25 | 20 |
| Jan 26 | 36 |
| Feb 26 | 32 |
| Mar 26 | 29 |
| Apr 26 | 25 |
| May 26 | 29 |
| Jun 26 | 23 |
| Jul 26 | 26 |
| Aug 26 | 28 |
The newest months read low: start dates are confirmed with a delay.
With partners at 32.4% of arrivals, the mix is in line with the market's 27.7%. On settled windows partner moves alone went from 103 to 97 (-5.8%), a change inside the noise of the two counts, so we read it as flat. 19.5% of movers stepped up a level when they changed firm, against 12.9% for the market.
- Partner32.4%
- Counsel19.5%
- Associate48.1%
100 firms hired at least one lateral in Personal Injury & Wrongful Death in the window. The ten firms at the head of the hiring table took 45.2% of arrivals (12.9% market-wide), so hiring here is concentrated. First on the hiring table is Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker, with arrivals in the 21-40 band.
By city, Los Angeles comes first (8.0% of arrivals), then New York (8.0%). 20.9% of movers also changed city, against 20.5% market-wide.
- 1,000+ lawyers32.0%
- 400-999 lawyers16.8%
- 150-399 lawyers22.7%
- under 150 lawyers28.4%
There were 103 open roles in Personal Injury & Wrongful Death on law-firm career pages on November 11, 2026.
For a firm planning a hire in Personal Injury & Wrongful Death, 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 | Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker | 21-40 |
| 2 | Morgan & Morgan | 11-20 |
| 3 | Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani | 11-20 |
| 4 | Goldberg Segalla | 11-20 |
| 5 | Quintairos Prieto Wood & Boyer | 11-20 |
| 6 | Freeman Mathis & Gary | 11-20 |
| 7 | Clyde & Co | 11-20 |
| 8 | The Chartwell Law Offices | 6-10 |
| 9 | Wood, Smith, Henning & Berman | 6-10 |
| 10 | Kennedys Law | 6-10 |
| Rank | Firm | Moves (band) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani | 6-10 |
| 2 | Quintairos Prieto Wood & Boyer | 6-10 |
| 3 | Wood, Smith, Henning & Berman | 3-5 |
| 4 | The Chartwell Law Offices | 3-5 |
| 5 | Morrison & Foerster | 3-5 |
| 6 | Goldberg Segalla | 3-5 |
| 7 | Freeman Mathis & Gary | 3-5 |
| 8 | Tressler | 3-5 |
| 9 | Weber Gallagher Simpson Stapleton Fires & Newby | 3-5 |
Deals in Personal Injury & Wrongful Death
Sartori & Partners data count 574 dated deals in Personal Injury & Wrongful Death in the 12 months to October 2026 and 1,638 over the three years to October 2026.
Disputes & investigations work is involved in 96.8% of them.
By client industry, Individuals & Consumers comes first with 19.7%.
Cole Scott & Kissane ranks first among advising firms over the period, in the 101-150 band.
| Rank | Firm | Deals (band) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cole Scott & Kissane | 101-150 |
| 2 | Marshall Dennehey | 101-150 |
| 3 | Irwin Mitchell | 61-100 |
| 4 | Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith | 61-100 |
| 5 | Wheeler Trigg O'Donnell | 61-100 |
| 6 | Stewarts | 61-100 |
| 7 | Hamilton, Miller & Birthisel | 41-60 |
| 8 | Conroy Simberg | 21-40 |
| 9 | Cullen and Dykman | 21-40 |
| 10 | Litchfield Cavo | 21-40 |
Time to partner in Personal Injury & Wrongful Death
73 lawyers were promoted to partner in Personal Injury & Wrongful Death in the 12 months to May 2026, 374 over five years, according to Sartori & Partners data.
The median time from first year of practice to partner is 10.0 years, with the middle half between 8.0 years and 14.0 years, against a market median of 10.0 years. 66.3% made partner within 12 years.
These figures rest on 303 promotions.
Related monitors and reports
Other specialities in Product Liability & Torts
Hiring in this market
Reports
- Personal Injury Lawyers Move to Move Up: 19.5% Gained a Title
A lateral move in personal injury and wrongful death is a promotion more often than in the wider market: 19.5% of movers stepped up a title, against 15.7% for the practice and 12.9% for all lawyers.
November 11, 2026 · November 2026
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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