Public Company Reporting Hiring Is Associate-Led: 61.1% of Moves

A firm that sets out to hire public company reporting lawyers will mostly meet associates. Sartori & Partners data show that associates made 61.1% of the 131 lateral moves in the speciality over 12 months, and partners 25.2%. In capital markets, the practice the speciality sits under, partners were 31.5% of moves; across the whole lateral market they were 27.7%. Periodic filings, proxy statements, disclosure controls and board reporting are recurring work done by teams with a deep associate layer, and the hiring follows that shape. Overall volume held flat (-2.2%), at 131 moves against 134 on the settled windows. For a hiring partner, the open question is less whether candidates exist than at which level they can be found.

The gap sits at the top and the bottom of the ladder. The partner share in public company reporting runs 6.3 points below capital markets, while the associate share runs 4.6 points above it. Counsel took 13.7% of moves, against 11.5% in the practice and 12.7% market-wide. Against the full market the speciality is also more junior: associates were 58.5% of all lateral moves. Public company reporting accounts for 20.7% of the moves recorded under capital markets, so it is a sizeable part of the practice with a different level profile. A firm that briefs a reporting search as if it were a deal partner search will find a thinner partner pool than the practice figures suggest.

Partner hiring in the speciality held flat (-25.0%) on the settled windows, at 33 partners against 44: counts this small do not separate a real change from chance. Capital markets partner hiring held flat (+1.1%) over the same windows, 185 against 183, while partner hiring across the market rose 8.4%. Over three years the associate weight holds. Partners were 30.4% of the speciality's 368 moves and associates 57.3%, against 31.2% partners in capital markets and 26.9% in the market. The longer view puts the partner share closer to the practice than the last 12 months do, so the 12-month figure is a low reading of a mix that has always leaned junior. Firms should not wait for a wave of reporting partners to come loose: the supply has been steady and modest.

In the Sartori & Partners lateral database, New York received 33.6% of public company reporting moves over 12 months, against 14.8% of all lateral moves. That is an index of 227, above the 169 that capital markets shows in the same city. Over three years New York took 31.5% of moves, against 23.2% for the practice and 14.2% for the market. San Francisco took 6.2% over three years and Washington 5.7%. Reporting lawyers also relocate more often than most: 24.5% of moves with both cities known involved a change of city, against 20.5% market-wide. A firm outside New York can recruit from New York, but it should price the move into the offer.

Among moves to firms of known size, firms of 1,000+ lawyers took 59.5% of public company reporting hires, against 69.1% in capital markets. Firms of 400-999 lawyers took 26.7%, against 18.3% in the practice and 23.4% in the market. Hiring is spread across 83 firms, yet the top 10 hirers took 29.8% of moves, against 25.0% in capital markets.

Cooley ranks first, in the 6-10 band of hires, and every other firm on the list sits in the 3-5 band. Over three years Paul Hastings ranks first, in the 11-20 band. No single buyer dominates. A mid-sized firm bidding for a reporting associate competes on an even footing more often than it would for a capital markets deal lawyer.

Lawyers in the speciality promoted to partner over 5 years got there at a median of 9.0 years from their first year of practice, across 186 promotions with a known start year. The middle half fell between 8.0 years and 11.0 years, and 84.4% had made it within 12 years. Firms promoted 39 reporting lawyers to partner in the latest 12 months of promotions. The lateral route to a higher title is narrower: 11.5% of moves came with a step up, against 15.1% in capital markets and 12.9% market-wide. Reporting lawyers tend to change firm at the level they hold and wait for promotion where they land. For a firm, a senior associate hired now is a partner candidate within a known horizon, and the promotion track is the realistic way to build the partner bench.

Plan the bench from the associate level up. With associates at 61.1% of moves and partners at 25.2%, the market offers more mid-level and senior associates than partners, and Sartori & Partners data show no sign of that changing while partner hiring held flat (-25.0%). Start the search in New York, where the speciality hires at an index of 227, and budget for relocation when the seat is elsewhere. Treat a partner hire as a long search with a named fallback: a counsel or senior associate from a large firm with a full filing calendar, promoted on the 9.0 years median track. Firms of 400-999 lawyers can compete for these candidates; they took 26.7% of hires. Live demand is real: 130 openings in the speciality sat on law-firm career pages on the data date.