Sartori & Partners founder Lorenzo Sartori has a new guide on legal department structure, built on a useful count. Between May and October 2026, 772 companies hired 953 lawyers out of law firms, and the practices those lawyers came from show what companies keep inside. Corporate and M&A featured in 33.2% of the moves, against 20.7% of moves between firms. No other practice is over-represented in-house by as many points. (A lawyer can carry more than one practice, so the shares overlap.)
Litigators are the surprise. Litigation was the largest practice hired, at 37.7%, yet slightly under its 39.9% share of lateral moves. The guide’s explanation is that an in-house litigator rarely tries cases. The job is choosing the firm, setting strategy, deciding when to settle and reporting exposure to the board. Disputes and investigations were 25.0% of the matters law firms advised on, so the trial work is still bought outside.
The sharpest gap is technology, data and privacy: 9.8% of in-house hires against 4.2% of lateral moves, 2.3 times the share. Intellectual property runs 12.9% against 7.4%. That work is too frequent and too close to the product to buy by the hour, Sartori writes. Capital markets goes the other way, at 25.7% of outside matters and only 4.9% of in-house hires.
For a general counsel or chief legal officer drawing the org chart, that is a staffing plan. For a law firm lawyer, it is an odds sheet. Corporate, privacy and IP lawyers have the wind at their backs; litigators should pitch themselves as case managers. It fits what we saw in the firm’s data on who hires Big Law associates. Our guide to getting an in-house counsel job covers the practice areas in demand, and our privacy counsel jobs page shows who is hiring.
As Sartori puts it: “For most companies the corporate and commercial bench is the core of the department, and the first hires after the general counsel belong there.”
Read: Legal Department Structure: Companies Staff Corporate, Buy Trial Work at Sartori & Partners