Private Fund Formation Hiring rose 20.5% in 2026, Above the Market

The fund formation lawyers lateral market is growing faster than the market around it. Sartori & Partners data show that private fund formation lateral hiring rose 20.5% year on year: 294 moves in the 12 months to September 2026, against 244 in the 12 months before. All lateral hiring rose 9.0% over the same windows. For a firm that wants to add fund formation capacity, that gap means more rivals bidding for the same associates and partners than a year ago.

The speciality grew 20.5%, against 9.0% for all lateral hiring. It also sits inside a practice that is expanding as a whole: funds and investment management lateral hiring rose 23.7%, at 627 moves against 507. Fund formation is the larger part of that practice, present in 46.3% of its lateral moves.

The sister speciality grew faster still. Secondaries and fund transactions hiring rose 40.4%, but from 94 moves to 132, a much smaller base than fund formation. Taken together, the two specialities point to fund-side work gaining weight in lateral demand, not to a single busy year at a few firms.

The yearly series puts the rise in context. Fund formation laterals fell to 141 in 2023, recovered to 204 in 2024 and reached 261 in 2025. With the year still partial, 2026 already stands at 252. A firm that last tested this market in 2023 will find it much more contested now, and should reset its timetable and its compensation assumptions before it starts a search.

Partner hiring in fund formation rose 29.9%, with 126 partner moves against 97 a year earlier. Partners made up 45.9% of fund formation laterals in 12 months, 18.2 points above the market's 27.7% and above the 36.7% of the wider funds practice.

Associates are the thinner side of this market. They made up 43.7% of fund formation moves, against 58.5% of all laterals. Few moves were promotions in disguise: 11.8% of fund formation laterals joined at a higher title, close to the market's 12.9%. Partners who move tend to move as partners, so a firm should budget for a lateral partner at full market value rather than hope to promote into the role on arrival.

In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, New York took 27.6% of fund formation hires in 12 months, an index of 187 against the city's share of the whole market. London followed at 13.6%, an index of 147. Paris is the outlier: 9.0% of fund formation hires, an index of 488.

The Paris share is also new. Over 3 years, Paris took 5.6% of fund formation hires; in the latest 12 months it took 9.0%. London moved the other way, from 17.3% over 3 years to 13.6% in 12 months. Across the whole funds practice, Paris carries an index of 276, so fund formation is where the city's pull is sharpest. A firm building a European fund bench should treat Paris as a primary search city, not a satellite of London.

Firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 78.5% of fund formation laterals in 12 months, against 53.6% across the market and 75.8% in the funds practice. Firms of 400-999 lawyers took 14.0%. In all, 102 firms hired at least one fund formation lateral, and the ten most active took 34.4% of the moves, against 12.9% for the market's ten most active hirers.

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher ranks first among fund formation hirers, in the 11-20 band. The bands are tight at the top, which means no single platform sets the price. For a mid-size firm, the concentration cuts both ways: the candidates sit mostly inside very large firms, but those firms are also where the next departures will come from when a partner wants a smaller conflicts load or a clearer path to running a fund client relationship.

Hiring follows the work. Sartori & Partners records 458 dated fund formation deals in 12 months, and financial sponsors were a client in 66.1% of the deals of the past 3 years. On the data date, law-firm career pages listed 194 open fund formation roles, a snapshot of openings live that one day, not a measure of where hiring is heading.

Growing a bench from inside is slow. The median fund formation lawyer promoted to partner over 5 years took 9.0 years from the first year of practice, and only 29.3% made it within 8 years. Firms promoted 76 fund formation lawyers to partner in 12 months. A firm that needs senior fund capacity this year cannot wait for a home-grown partner; it has to hire.

Start earlier than last year. Fund formation hiring rose 20.5% while the market rose 9.0%, so each qualified candidate now fields more approaches, and a search should open before the business need becomes urgent.

Plan for partners at partner prices. With 45.9% of moves at partner level and few step-ups, the realistic hire is a sitting partner with fund sponsors who will follow, and the business case should rest on that portable work. Associate supply is the thinner side, so firms should protect the fund associates they already train.

Search where the work is. New York and London hold most of the volume, and Paris over-indexes at 488: a firm with a European fund practice should open its Paris search at the same time as London. Watch the adjacent pool too. Secondaries and fund transactions hiring rose 40.4%, so lawyers who cover both fund formation and secondaries will draw the widest competition, as Sartori & Partners data on both specialities suggest.