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MARKET INTELLIGENCE
The market,
as it actually stands.
Updated 29 September 2026 · London & United States
Partner hiring is no longer a side-effect of a busy year. It is how leading firms are building practices. This page is a current snapshot of publicly announced partner movement across London and the major US markets — what moved in 2025, what is still moving in 2026, and where search mandates are concentrating now.
Q3 2026 _____
2025 set a
new baseline.
The live market is selective, expensive, and increasingly team-led.
668
London announced partner hires in 2025
The highest annual total since records began in 2007, and 21% above the previous record in 2024.
3,000+
Am Law 200 lateral partner moves in 2025
A five-year high across the United States.
3,200+
Partners joined Am Law 200 firms Jan–Sept 2026
Already more than the whole of 2021.
81
London partner moves in July–August 2026
A record for that two-month window and 16% above the same period in 2025.
KEY DEVELOPMENTS
What changed in 2026.
01
Group moves are now structural
In the first half of 2026, almost one in four Am Law 200 laterals moved as part of a group of three or more lawyers. Firms are buying practices, not isolated names.
02
Elite platforms are no longer insulated
Historically low-churn firms lost partners in public this year, including high-profile moves from Wachtell, WilmerHale, Weil and others.
03
US platforms remain the demand side in London
US firms continue to underwrite private capital, finance, funds and disputes practices in the City at a scale most UK lockstep platforms will not match.
04
Compensation is only half the negotiation
At the top of the market, multi-year guarantees are now routinely discussed in eight figures. Exit terms have hardened in parallel: clawbacks, notice, capital and garden-leave mechanics are now as important as headline pay.
MARKET SUMMARY_______
2025 in one line.
Market
2025 result
Why it matters in 2026
London
668 announced partner hires, +21% on 2024
The highest year on record. 2026 volume is still running above trend.
United States
Five-year high in Am Law partner laterals
Mobility has reached firms that previously rarely hired or lost partners.
Team hires
Multi-partner lifts became a normal acquisition tool
2026 search briefs are increasingly written around groups, not individuals.
DEMAND LANDSCAPE_______
Where demand is sitting now.
Market
Active practices
Weak briefs
London
Private capital, PE / M&A, leveraged finance, restructuring, funds, international arbitration
Generic corporate with no sponsor, finance or sector angle.
New York
PE, M&A, complex commercial litigation, restructuring
Broad “corporate” with a thin or non-portable book
Washington, D.C.
Investigations, regulatory, disputes, government-to-private laterals
Unfocused policy or advisory practices
Houston / Texas
Energy, infrastructure, projects, energy-linked disputes
General commercial without a US or energy book
San Francisco
Tech transactions, AI-adjacent commercial, senior in-house legal
Mid-market generalist hiring
NOTABLE MOVES IN 2026
Selected partner moves
July 2026
William Savitt, co-head of litigation at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, left for Gibson Dunn.
June 2026
King & Spalding hired an eight-partner international arbitration team from WilmerHale, led by Gary Born.
July – August 2026
Seyfarth Shaw hired a four-partner corporate team from Mishcon de Reya, including its head of corporate.
September 2026
Michael Aiello left Weil, Gotshal & Manges for Cravath with a five-partner M&A team.
September 2026
Weil’s London co-managing partner David Avery-Gee and corporate partner Sarah Flaherty moved to Sullivan & Cromwell.
September 2026
Linklaters hired Mark Gordon from Wachtell as managing partner of its Americas business and co-chair of global M&A.
2026
Simpson Thacher hired Murray Cox from Weil. Slaughter and May remains one of the rare Magic Circle exits that still defines London lateral folklore.
OUR PERSPECTIVE
HIA Legal view.
Partners are not moving because “the market is hot.” They are moving because the platform below them cannot hold the work, the compensation model no longer matches originations, a team has already started to leave, or a US firm will underwrite the practice in a way a lockstep or hybrid firm will not.
The searches that are completing in 2026 share the same shape:
01
A team, not a name
Almost one in four Am Law laterals in H1 2026 moved in a group of three or more. Firms are buying a practice, not an isolated partner.
02
Key client relationships, not a headline book
What travels is the relationship: who calls, who instructs, and who will follow. Origination figures without client contact do not complete.
03
One practice, one city
The mandates that close are narrow. Private capital, funds, finance, disputes, energy. Generic corporate with no sector or sponsor angle is stalling.
04
A 12-month integration plan
Not a three-year story. Firms want the book visible inside a year: conflicts cleared, clients introduced, and the team billing on the new platform.
05
A platform that will underwrite the practice
Partners are leaving where the model cannot hold the work. US firms in London, and a small set of elite US platforms at home, are still writing the guarantees others will not.
FOR PARTNERS CONSIDERING A MOVE
A process that starts with advice.
A partner process should begin with advice, not a CV. We will tell you if the market will not pay for the practice you have, if the timing is wrong, or if the first firm in the conversation is the wrong platform. Most of the lawyers who instruct us are referred by another lawyer.
Notes
This snapshot is for general market information only. It is based on publicly announced partner moves and published industry data current as at 29 September 2026.
It is not a complete record of all partner hiring and should not be relied on as formal market research. Named moves are drawn from firm announcements and contemporaneous reporting.
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