Professional Liability Lateral Hiring: A Short List of Buyers

Professional liability lateral hiring is bought by a short list of firms. Sartori & Partners data show 336 lateral moves in the speciality in the 12 months to October 2026, spread across 140 hiring firms, and the top 10 of those firms took 33.0% of the moves. Across litigation and disputes as a whole, the top 10 hirers took 12.0%; in commercial litigation, the largest speciality in the practice, they took 14.0%. For a firm planning a hire in this area, that gap shapes where candidates sit, who else is calling them, and how a search has to be run.

In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, the 33.0% held by the top 10 professional liability hirers is 2.8 times the 12.0% held by litigation's top 10, and 2.4 times commercial litigation's 14.0%. Across every practice, the market's top 10 hirers take 12.9%. Part of the gap is size: professional liability ranks 19th among specialities by moves, and a small pool concentrates more easily than a large one. The longer view shows the pattern is structural, not a one-year accident. Over 3 years and 1,141 moves, the top 10 still took 30.7%.

The names are consistent across measures. Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani heads this list and also heads the list of litigation hirers overall. Kennedys Law, Clyde & Co, Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith and DWF also appear among the firms with the most professional liability matters on record over 3 years, so the firms that buy talent are the firms that hold the work. For a firm outside this group, every serious candidate is also visible to a handful of repeat buyers who know the pool well. For a firm inside it, the competition is mostly with the other names on the list.

Partners made up 36.9% of professional liability moves in the last 12 months, against 27.4% across litigation and 27.7% in the whole market. Concentration is sharper still at partner level. The top 10 partner hirers took 34.2% of lateral partner moves, against 13.9% in litigation and 17.9% in commercial litigation. Partner hiring held flat (-11.7%) on the year, with 128 partners in the settled 12 months against 145 in the 12 months before. Lawyers who joined at a higher title than the one they left accounted for 15.2% of moves, above the market's 12.9%, so buyers here are more willing than most to promote on the way in.

The partner list overlaps the overall list but is not identical: DAC Beachcroft, Barnes & Thornburg, Quintairos Prieto Wood & Boyer and White and Williams appear only on the partner side. A partner who is open to a move is likely to be weighing an offer from one of these firms. Price and pitch the role against them, not against the wider litigation market.

Philadelphia took 6.8% of professional liability moves, against 1.9% of all lateral moves: an index of 355. Litigation as a whole also leans toward the city, but only to an index of 141, and commercial litigation to 125. The tilt is not new. Over 3 years, Philadelphia held 6.0% of professional liability moves, second only to New York. New York remains the largest city for the speciality at 14.0%, yet its index of 95 puts it slightly under its market weight, while Los Angeles sits at 119.

Relocation will not solve a gap in the wrong city: 20.1% of professional liability moves involved a change of city, close to the market's 20.5%. A firm that wants depth in this speciality and has no Philadelphia office is recruiting away from the place where candidates cluster most relative to the market.

Sartori & Partners data show 3.6% of professional liability moves were part of a team joining the same firm in the same quarter. That is 2.4 times the market's 1.5%, and above litigation's 2.0% and commercial litigation's 2.4%. The buyers are also not concentrated at the very top of the size scale. Firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 40.7% of professional liability hires, against 53.6% across the market, while firms of 150-399 lawyers took 24.3%, against 13.3%.

Where these lawyers came from also sets the speciality apart, measured against litigation's own departures. Over 3 years, 21.9% of professional liability laterals left a firm under 150 lawyers, against 15.9% across litigation and 11.4% in the whole market. Firms of 1,000+ lawyers were the previous employer for 35.3% of the speciality's laterals, against 47.2% in litigation. The bench comes out of smaller firms far more often than litigation's does. A search that covers only large firms misses much of the pool, and a firm open to a group hire can add a working team in one step.

Professional liability hiring fell 13.1% year on year, with 346 moves in the settled 12 months against 398 in the 12 months before. Over the same windows, litigation hiring rose 7.5% and hiring across the market rose 9.0%. The yearly series shows a slow slide since the 2023 peak rather than a sudden break.

The work itself is steady in character. The speciality had 126 dated matters on record over 3 years, nearly all of them disputes (99.2%). The largest client industry was Professional Services, at 23.8% of those matters, against 9.7% for the largest client industry in commercial litigation. Claims involving accountants, brokers, consultants and other advisers sit at the center of the practice, and that client base gives the work a defined, repeat character. Fewer moves in a market with the same short list of buyers means fewer candidates surface on their own: waiting for applications is slower than approaching a named lawyer or team.

Start every search by mapping the top 10 hirers, because they take 33.0% of the moves and 34.2% of the partner moves. Any candidate worth hiring is known to them, and many will be weighing a competing approach from one of them. Second, look at Philadelphia before you look anywhere else outside New York: no other city in the speciality carries a comparable index. Third, budget for a team, not only a lateral partner, since group moves run well above the market rate. Fourth, widen the net to firms of under 150 lawyers: they were the previous employer of 21.9% of the speciality's laterals over 3 years, against 15.9% across litigation. Finally, plan for a thinner flow of candidates than the broader litigation market offers, and move early on the people you want.