Privacy Lawyers Held Still While Tech Hiring Rose in 2026

Privacy lawyers lateral hiring held still this year. Sartori & Partners data show 205 lateral moves by privacy and data protection lawyers in the latest settled 12-month window, against 201 in the window before: a flat count. The technology, data and privacy practice that privacy sits under rose over the same months, and the whole market rose too. For a firm planning a privacy hire, the privacy count is the figure to plan on.

The settled windows tell the story. Privacy and data protection drew 201 lateral hires in the 12 months to September 2025 and 205 in the 12 months to September 2026, so hiring held flat (+2.0%). Its parent practice, technology, data and privacy, went from 448 to 594 moves and rose 32.6%. The whole lateral market went from 13,128 to 14,305 and rose 9.0%.

Privacy is a large focus inside the practice: lawyers with that focus appear on 31.6% of the practice's moves, more than artificial intelligence at 26.9% or cybersecurity and data breach at 27.6%. Yet its direction parted from the practice. Artificial intelligence hiring rose 42.5%, from 127 to 181, while cybersecurity and data breach held flat (+19.3%). Each speciality is counted on its own and one lawyer can carry several, so these are directions to read side by side, not slices of the practice to add up.

The consequence is practical. The pool of privacy lawyers willing to move is about the size it was a year ago, so a firm should plan a privacy search on that steady pool of movers.

Partner hires make up 33.9% of privacy moves over 12 months, close to the practice's 33.2% and above the market's 27.7%. Associates are still the majority at 55.7%, against 58.5% across the market. Artificial intelligence sits at the other end, with partners at 47.5% of its moves.

The partner line splits from the practice in the same way as the total. Privacy partner hires went from 56 to 70, a gap that counts this small leave inside the noise, so it reads as flat. Partner hiring across the practice rose 44.4% over the same windows.

Few privacy moves come with a promotion attached. Only 11.5% of them involved a step up in title, against 14.8% in the practice and 12.9% in the market. A privacy partner usually arrives as a partner already, so a firm should budget for a lateral partner at full title rather than plan to lift a counsel into the role on arrival.

Sartori & Partners counts 12.5% of privacy moves in the last 12 months as London hires, an index of 135 on the market's own London share. The practice reads almost the same in London, at 132, while artificial intelligence runs higher at 183.

Over 3 years the pattern holds. London took 13.0% of privacy hires and New York 7.4%. Across the whole market the order is reversed, with New York at 14.2% and London at 10.0%. Paris, at 5.5% of privacy hires, ties with Chicago at 5.5% and runs well above its market share of 2.3%.

Privacy lawyers changed city in 19.3% of moves where both cities are known, against 20.5% for the market, so most hires stay where they practice. A privacy search should start in London and Paris; a search confined to New York draws on a pool that is small next to the city's weight in the wider market.

The size of the hiring firm separates privacy from its practice. Firms of 400-999 lawyers took 31.8% of privacy hires in 12 months, against 21.3% in the practice and 23.4% in the market. Firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 52.6%, below the practice's 58.4%. Firms under 150 lawyers took about 4.2% of privacy hires, a rough size, against 10.2% in the practice.

Hiring is also concentrated. The top 10 privacy hirers took 23.7% of moves, against 19.5% in the practice and 12.9% in the market, with 112 firms hiring at least one privacy lawyer. Jones Day heads the 12-month list in the 6-10 band; the other nine sit in the 3-5 band.

For a firm in a search, the rival bidder is a mid-sized international firm as often as a global one, and the same short list of repeat hirers will appear in most processes.

On the data date, law-firm career pages listed 441 openings labeled privacy. Posting labels are broad and overlap, so one opening can carry several of them, and the figure is a stock on one day, not a count of postings over a period. It is not set against the year's hires or against other specialities here.

Promotion is the other supply line. Firms promoted 65 privacy lawyers to partner in the 12 months to May 2026, and the median privacy partner reached the title after 10.0 years of practice. Of the privacy matters on public record over 3 years, 79.4% are disputes and investigations, so the recorded work leans contentious.

With many openings listed and a flat count of movers, a privacy search should be planned for a long run of interviews and offers. Growing a partner from within takes about as long as the median above, so most firms short of privacy partners will need a lateral.

First, size the search to the privacy pool, not to the practice: privacy hiring held flat (+2.0%) while technology, data and privacy rose 32.6%. Second, start in London and look at Paris, where privacy hires run above the market's city shares; a New York search draws on only 7.4% of privacy moves over 3 years. Third, expect lateral partners to come at full title: 11.5% of privacy moves involved a step up. Fourth, price in competition from firms of 400-999 lawyers and from a concentrated group of repeat hirers. In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, the top 10 hirers account for 23.7% of privacy moves. Finally, read the 441 open roles as rivals for the same candidates, not as new supply.