New York Lateral Partner Hiring Reaches Three-Year High
A recent New York Law Journal article by Ryan Harroff reports that New York lateral partner hiring reached a three-year high in Q1 2026, with 186 partners making moves among Am Law 100 firms and the top 50 UK firms, according to data from Macrae's New York Partner Lateral Hiring Report.
The Q1 2026 figures outpaced both Q1 2024, which recorded 133 total moves, and Q1 2025, which recorded 161 - and far exceeded lateral volumes in London (122 moves) and California (72 moves) over the same period.
Transactional practices led demand, with investment management and funds work accounting for 9.7% of total lateral activity in New York - double its prior share of new partner hires. Financial services regulation and insurance practices, meanwhile, fell to their lowest historical share in both quarterly and annual Macrae+ data.
Stephanie Ruiter, a Managing Director based in Macrae New York, comments in the piece:
"The New York lateral market is incredibly frothy. The amount of people who are willing to take a call, I think, is higher than it's ever been. This is the domino effect. There's just so much money being thrown around. The mergers are continuing to happen. And I would guess that it's not a coincidence that all of this is happening with extreme market volatility."
Ruiter notes that many of the moves recorded in Q1 were set in motion six to nine months earlier, as shifting tariff and sanctions policy made it harder for private equity and private credit attorneys to close deals - prompting lateral activity that has since worked its way through the market.
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