The U.S. Legal Leverage Atlas 2026

About this report

How many associates sit behind every partner — mapped across every major U.S. and U.K. legal market, by metro, by practice, and across the Atlantic. Drawing on a proprietary cross-sectional mapping of the major U.S. and U.K. firms alongside cited public market data, the Atlas reads a single structural ratio for what it tells managing partners about succession, recruiters about where the seats are, and candidates about where the path to partnership is steepest. It documents a U.S. partnership pyramid flatter than the profession's mythology suggests, a sharp transatlantic inversion between the U.S. and U.K. markets, and a firm-level dispersion wide enough that the market average is a poor guide to any single firm.

What's inside

• Associate-to-partner leverage
• Metro & practice-area structure
• US vs UK transatlantic inversion
• Partnership track & odds
• Lateral hiring & succession

All figures in this report are sourced and cited. Sartori & Partners research combines proprietary market mapping with published industry data.