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COVER STORY: Pay Day
Why US firms are betting big on private equity
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Welcome to my first issue as editor of Legal Business. It is perhaps fitting that one of the first features I worked on when joining the magazine in summer 2004 concerned Weil, Gotshal & Manges’ audacious attempt to hire Clifford Chance private equity rainmakers Matthew Layton and James Baird. In one of the biggest U-turns ever seen in City recruitment, the pair decided to stay put – allegedly turning down packages of more than $2m each in the process – despite telling clients and management that they were off. Fast forward two years and it is private equity rival Linklaters that is feeling the heat, with star partners Graham White and Raymond McKeeve resigning for US leader Kirkland & Ellis. It is a telling indicator of how far the (already high) stock of top UK private equity lawyers has risen in less than two years, with White and McKeeve rumoured to be receiving eye-watering packages of $4.5m and $3m respectively. No surprises then that the pair have not done a ‘Layton’ and reneged on their promise to leave.
As our cover story points out, it is the big-ticket pan-European ‘club’ deals that the US firms covet and they are prepared to bet big to win them. Kirkland expects no less than a UK public-to-private deal from the likes of CVC on the back of its Linklaters raid. And with Weil Gotshal and Latham & Watkins also ramping up with big-name hires in the past month, it’s a good bet that the Magic Circle is about to get more than a run for its money.
James Baxter, editor
LEGAL BUSINESS APPOINTMENTS
The ultimate partner moves and our special Job of the Month section |
THE LEADER Pritchard
London moves straight onto Centre Court |
THE BUSINESS
Richard Lloyd reports on finding a leader who fits. Plus exclusive news and the best market analysis |
THE FORUM International strategy
Tim Clark, senior partner at Slaughter and May, on why his firm values the freedom of an international ‘best friends’ network
Tony Angel, managing partner at Linklaters, argues that establishing a wide global network of offices brings the best competitive advantage |
COVER STORY: US firms and private equity Bringing down the houses
US firms are cashing in on Europe’s booming private equity market with partner raids on Linklaters and Lovells. Richard Lloyd reports |
DAVID MILLS EXCLUSIVE Lire, lire!
Bribes, Berlusconi and marital breakups – the former Withers partner David Mills tells James Lewis his side of the story | 
NOT AT THE RACES
The six-year saga between betting consortium Attheraces and the Racecourse Association has led to a host of litigation. James Lewis charts which law firms are in the running and who’s fallen at the first hurdle | 
SCOTLAND Into the mix
McGrigors has shaken the Scottish market by charging into Aberdeen, taking almost half of local firm Ledingham Chalmers with it, says Anthony Notaras |
FINLAND Fin city
Finnish law firm Roschier Holmberg has ventured into Sweden. Stephen Doggett charts the most aggressive, unprecedented move the Scandinavian legal market has yet seen |
THE LAST WORD
Grant McCrea – from high school drop-out to Brown Rudnick litigator
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