Project Development Lawyers: A Power and Renewables Bench

Project development lawyer hiring follows the energy business. Sartori & Partners data show that power and renewables clients were involved in 57.6% of the speciality's dated matters over three years, and oil and gas clients in 10.9%. In the 12 months to October 2026, 98 project development lawyers moved from one firm to another, mostly into very large firms and at a high partner share. For a firm weighing a project development hire, the client base fixes the cities, the rival bidders and the price of a partner before the first call is made.

The client mix is narrow. Power and renewables clients were involved in 57.6% of project development matters over three years. Oil and gas comes next at 10.9%, then government and public sector at 7.1%, infrastructure at 5.9% and utilities, water and waste at 4.6%. The distance between the first industry and the second is 46.7 points, a gap no other client group comes close to closing.

The type of work is just as concentrated. Project and infrastructure finance accounts for 79.4% of the speciality's dated matters over three years, and M&A for 7.3%. In practice, a project development lawyer is most often a financing lawyer for power assets: the person who takes a wind, solar, storage or gas-fired plant from permits and offtake contracts to financial close. The consequence for a hiring firm is direct. A candidate's value rests on lender and sponsor relationships in power, so the interview should test the energy deal record first and general project experience second.

The buyers are large. Firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 75.5% of project development lateral hires in 12 months, against 53.6% across all practices and 71.1% in projects and infrastructure. Firms of 400-999 lawyers took 16.3%, against 23.4% market-wide, and firms of 150-399 lawyers took 8.2%, against 13.3%.

This is not a one-year effect. Over three years, firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 68.8% of the speciality's moves, against 52.5% for the market. Power financing calls for lender and sponsor teams in several offices at once, which favors the largest platforms. A firm of 400-999 lawyers bidding for the same candidate has to offer what scale does not: a clear sector seat, direct contact with clients, or a shorter route to equity partnership.

Project development hiring leans toward the top of the ladder. Partners made up 44.9% of the speciality's lateral moves in 12 months, against 38.6% in projects and infrastructure and 27.7% across the market. That puts the speciality 6.3 points above its practice and 17.2 points above the market. Associates were 39.8% of project development moves, against 48.4% in the practice.

Movers also step up more often: 17.3% joined at a higher title than the one they left, against 15.1% in the practice and 12.9% market-wide. Partner hiring in the speciality held flat (+13.3%) on the settled comparison, at 51 hires against 45. A firm that wants a project development partner is shopping where partners already move readily, so the test is the book of power clients and the associates who would follow, not the title on the door.

Over three years London took 12.0% of project development moves and Houston 9.1%, ahead of New York at 8.2% and Washington, DC at 7.3%. Across all practices Houston took 2.1% of moves over the same three years, so the energy capital ranks second here while it sits far down the market's own list. The parent practice shows the same pull in the latest 12 months: Houston's share of projects and infrastructure moves carries an index of 409 against the market, the highest of any city in the practice's 12-month list.

Paris completes the speciality's three-year list at 6.9%. Lawyers in this field relocate readily: 25.6% of project development movers in the last 12 months also changed city, against 20.5% across the market. For a firm without a Texas office, the Houston pool is the hardest to reach from outside; for a firm with one, Houston is where the candidate pool is deepest relative to the wider market. London plays the same role for European power work.

Project development hiring held flat (-7.7%) on the settled comparison, with 108 moves in the latest window against 117 a year earlier. The projects and infrastructure practice held flat (+1.3%), while the market as a whole rose 9.0%. In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, project development lawyers accounted for 17.6% of the moves recorded under the projects and infrastructure practice in 12 months. Hiring is also concentrated: the ten most active hirers took 43.9% of project development moves in 12 months, against 27.4% in the practice and 12.9% market-wide, out of 52 firms that hired at least one.

Baker Botts heads the 12-month list in the 6-10 hires band, with Latham & Watkins and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in the same band. A steady market with a short list of active buyers means a candidate who moves will often weigh offers from the same few firms, so a challenger should plan for a counteroffer round and keep the timetable loose enough to absorb it.

Start from the client base. With power and renewables clients on 57.6% of the speciality's matters over three years, a project development partner is worth what the energy relationships are worth, and diligence should map them client by client. Recruit where the work sits: London and Houston over three years, then New York and Washington, DC. Treat the largest firms as the main rival bidders, since firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 75.5% of hires in 12 months. Expect partner-level competition, with partners at 44.9% of moves. Sartori & Partners data also show a flat count, so the pool will not widen by itself: the realistic route is a targeted approach to named power benches at rival firms, with an offer built around the sector seat.