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Freshfields concludes redundancies in Manchester, with around 20 paralegals axed

Around 20 paralegal roles from Freshfields’ Manchester business services hub were axed as a result of a round of redundancies announced in September last year.

LB understands that, after the redundancies completed in 2025 with approximately 20 paralegal roles cut, Freshfields has not planned any further cutbacks to its paralegal team in Manchester.

A spokesperson from Freshfields said: ‘As we’ve said previously, we continue to evolve our business to keep pace with a fast-changing legal market – investing in technology, building key skills in house and adapting our model to meet future client needs.’

‘Any changes that took place in 2025 were communicated directly with those affected at the time, and we do not provide breakdowns by team or location,’ they concluded.

Freshfields launched its Manchester office in 2015 as a base for its business services hub, which the firm stated aimed to deliver a ‘highly efficient service’ to clients.

The firm also operates a global support services hub in Bratislava, launched in 2022, which employed over 50 finance, HR and additional support staff.

Cuts to business services roles have increased over the last few years, as firms continue to grapple with how AI is changing workflows.

Most recently, Baker McKenzie announced cuts of up to 10% of its global business service roles, including positions in London and Belfast, following a review of its back office functions.

With over 6,000 business services staff employed across its global offices, the cuts could mean up to 600 people were made redundant by Bakers.

Clifford Chance was also revealed to be cutting around 10% of its business services roles within its London office last year. The firm reviewed around 550 roles across its finance, HR and IT departments, with roughly 50 redundancies expected as well as 35 role changes.

Additionally, Clyde & Co conducted a review of its support staff across the Asia Pacific region in December last year, and BCLP announced a ‘business modernisation programme’ last spring, that impacted around 8% of the firm’s global business population.

A number of firms operate specific business services centres outside of London and other regional hubs, including Freshfields in Manchester and Bratislava, Clifford Chance in Newcastle and A&O Shearman in Belfast.

These offices were set up in the last decade to boost productivity, but face increasing strain as AI continues to change how legal work is carried out.

Just yesterday, Freshfields also announced a multi-year partnership with Anthropic, which will see the firm expand its use of the company’s leading AI software Claude.

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‘Overwhelming approval’ – DLA Piper partners approve LLP integration

Partners at DLA Piper have voted to approve the dismantling of the firm’s long-standing Swiss verein structure, in a move to strengthen its competitive edge.

The firm announced today (24 April) that partners at DLA Piper US LLP and DLA Piper International LLP ‘overwhelmingly approved’ the proposed single leadership structure.

The plan also introduces a new global holding entity and global leadership team, led by Frank Ryan as global chair and co-CEO and Charles Severs as global co-CEO, which would sit above its existing US and international LLPs.

Also on the leadership team are Austin-based transactional practices head John Gilluly and New York-based US disputes chair Loren Brown as vice chairs, Birmingham, UK-based Sandra Wallace and Chicago-based Rick Chesley as global co-managing partners, and Benjamin Parameswaran in Hamburg as international managing director for clients.

The firm first announced plans to unify the verein in March, citing a need for greater strategic alignment. At least 75% of the international partnership and a weighted 66% of the US partnership had to vote in favour of the overhaul.

Now approved, the changes are due to take effect from 1 May, and include a move to align partner compensation and incentive schemes, and firmwide use of the US calendar year-end from 1 January 2027.

‘DLA Piper already advises clients on some of the market’s most complex local and cross-border issues, but our ambition is to bring the full strength of our platform to the market,’ Severs said in a statement.

Ryan added: ‘This alignment strengthens our ability to invest in the lawyers, teams, and technologies that will reshape competition in major legal markets.’

In a March interview with LB, Ryan and Severs stressed that the new compensation system will make it easier to recruit and retain talent, a requirement for global law firms in an increasingly competitive talent war.

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Fresh capital: Paul Weiss, White & Case lead as General Atlantic tops up Joe & the Juice with Abu Dhabi-backed investment

Paul Weiss and White & Case have taken the lead roles as Abu Dhabi-based Emirates International Investment Company (EIIC) has acquired a minority stake in Joe & the Juice, in a deal that values the Danish juice bar chain at $1.8bn.

Paul Weiss advised Joe & the Juice and its majority owner, US-based PE house General Atlantic, with a transatlantic team led by head of European M&A Will Aitken-Davies in London, global M&A co-chair Matthew Abbott and capital markets partner Timothy Cruickshank in New York, and capital markets partner Christopher Cummings, who splits his time between New York and Toronto.

London-based global tax co-head Timothy Lowe and tax partners Cian O’Connor and Rohit Pisal advised on tax. Also involved were antitrust partners Ross Ferguson in Brussels and Chad de Souza and Yuni Sobel in New York, and litigation department co-head Jessica Carey and litigation partners Staci Yablon and Lisa Velasquez in New York.

Danish firm Moalem Weitemeyer acted as co-counsel for Joe & the Juice, with a team led by firm founder and chair Dan Moalem, family offices and private clients team lead Sebastian Poulsen, tax partner Tobias Steinø, and M&A partner Thomas Enevoldsen.

EIIC, the investment arm of Abu Dhabi conglomerate National Holding, instructed White & Case, which field a Dubai-based team comprised of M&A partners Jan Jensen and Abdulwahid Alulama and local partner Adnan Bekdur.

Thomas Nørøxe, CEO of Joe & the Juice, said of the deal: ‘Joe & the Juice has scaled into a truly global brand, and we continue to see strong momentum across our markets. We are pleased to deepen our partnership with National Holding Group, as we pursue our international growth ambitions and bring the JOE experience to more customers around the world.’

General Atlantic – whose portfolio also includes consumer brands Shein, Depop and cosmetics label Too Faced – first acquired a $641m majority stake in the retailer from Swedish investment company Valedo in 2023, increasing its share from an initial minority investment in 2016 to 90%.

All three firms were involved on the deal. Paul Weiss and Moalem Weitemyer advised General Atlantic and Joe & the Juice respectively, while White & Case advised Valedo, with Jensen leading.

Paul Weiss recently advised General Atlantic on its 2024 acquisition of Actis, a global investor in sustainable infrastructure. Corporate partner Matthew Abbott also led on the deal.

Joe & the Juice, the health-focused sandwich, smoothie and coffee chain – known for its viral ‘Tunacado’ panini – operates more than 480 locations across 23 countries spanning North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

According to its most recent financial report, the company brought in 3.3bn Danish krone in revenue in 2025 – roughly £380m – and opened 75 new locations, expanding into Mexico, Morocco and Turkey.

‘We have strong momentum across the business and we’re moving in the right direction towards our ambition of 1,000 stores within the coming years,’ CEO Nørøxe said in the report. ‘We’ve built a solid foundation – now it’s about accelerating from here.’

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The art of the buyout: how clients rank London’s top private equity teams

When it comes to the top law firms advising the elite private equity shops, success is usually measured by two metrics: deal values and deal volumes.

But those are not the only metrics that matter. Behind the mega-deals and blockbuster years of activity lie the deep relationships that drive repeat business. And while PE was once synonymous with raised voices and uncompromising negotiators, more recently the emphasis has shifted toward lawyers who facilitate deals rather than fight them. 

Data gathered during Legal 500 research sheds light on the firms doing the best job of building these relationships, drawing on a range of key metrics to identify those most highly rated for their client service. (The following data is based on referee responses from Legal 500’s high-value private equity research.)

Commercial knowledge of the sector

Kirkland & Ellis is a fixture in the upper echelons of the private equity market, and topped the London Stock Exchange Group’s deal value rankings for PE-backed M&A in 2025, advising on almost 300 deals worth a combined $274bn, more than $100bn ahead of any other firm.

Legal 500 data underlines that expertise, with clients rating it as the top firm for commercial knowledge of the sector.

The firm’s practice includes three Legal 500 Hall of Fame partners – David Higgins (pictured), Matthew Elliott and Adrian Maguire – as well as two other leading partners, Stuart Boyd and Alvaro Membrillera.

Key mandates for the firm during 2025 included advising KKR on its acquisition of European healthcare company Karo from EQT for a reported $2.6bn and leading for Advent on its £3.56bn acquisition of British multinational Reckitt’s essential homes business.

Billing: transparency and value

For billing, Ropes & Gray is the top scoring firm for value, while Linklaters ranks top for billing transparency. Notable deals for the UK firm so far this year have included advising a Blackstone-led consortium on the £1.4bn takeover of FTSE 250 manufacturer Senior, and leading for Permira and Warburg Pincus on the £2.7bn sale of wealth management group Evelyn Partners to NatWest Group.

The firm’s work on the Evelyn Partners sale came after it acted for Permira, Blackstone, and portfolio company Adevinta on the sale of its Spanish business to EQT in mid-2025.

The firm’s financial sponsors practice is co-led by partners Alex Woodward and Ben Rodham. Woodward, a Legal 500 Hall of Famer and Linklaters lifer, has broad experience advising sponsor clients on all manner of transactions from restructurings to IPOs, and has strong relationships with both Carlyle and Hg. Other key names in the team include Legal 500 leading partner Tracy Lochhead and next generation partner Ben Suen, who was made up two years ago.

Overall client service

When considering all ten of the client service metrics that Legal 500 researches, US firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher comes out top, with strong showings for resourcing, efficiency and associate quality.

The team in London is led by European private equity practice chair Gavin Gordon, working alongside other key partners such as Claire McDaid and David Arnold.

According to Gordon (pictured), the firm’s model is to work with clients across the entire spectrum, from late stage growth through to large-cap deals. ‘This means our entire team are more experienced at staffing deals appropriately because the reality is on a small deal you can’t end up with a big-cap bill,’ Gordon says. ‘It doesn’t surprise me we come out ranked well for efficiency; this is something we do day to day. We are not learning on the job.’

This spectrum of deal size and complexity gives associates ample opportunities to take on different roles and responsibilities. ‘The experience associates gain in advising on a variety of deal sizes gives them a unique skillset when it comes to working on larger deals with compressed time frames and multiple work streams across a large team,’ Gordon explains.

At the very end of 2025, the firm advised on a deal which was effectively done in seven days between Christmas and New Year – Levine Leichtman Capital Partners’ sale of its Global Loan Agency Services business to Oakley Capital – an achievement Gordon puts down to the commitment of his team. ‘Being able to bring a team that’s motivated to deliver that sort of product to a client is not easy,’ he says. ‘You have to have people invested in our business to do this.’

‘Whenever you’re doing a deal, there is a potential client on the other side of the table,’ Gordon says. ‘We never want to be seen as an impediment to any transaction and finding solutions to complex issues is an easy way to demonstrate your skillset.’

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Photo by Jakub Żerdzicki on Unsplash

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‘The hardest part is building critical mass’ – as Big Law flocks to Dallas, what do firms need to succeed?

‘The Dallas market has shifted a lot,’ says Krista Hanvey (pictured), co-chair of the employee benefits and executive compensation practice at Gibson Dunn, and co-partner in charge of the firm’s Dallas office. ‘There’s a lot of competition, as we’re all going after the same Fortune 500 clients headquartered here.’

With a presence in Dallas since the 1980s, Gibson Dunn is part of an older guard of major US firms active in the city. Others include Sidley Austin, which entered through a merger with local firm Richards, Medlock and Andrews in 1996, Kirkland & Ellis and Reed Smith, which opened in 2018 and 2019 respectively through a clutch of local partner hires.

Over the last few years, more international firms have followed, with Simpson Thacher becoming the latest to announce a presence in the city, hiring Kirkland liability management partner David Nemecek in February to lead its capital structure solutions practice.

Meanwhile, Dechert announced a launch in January, with corporate partner Joanna Lin set to lead an office after joining from McDermott Will & Schulte as part of a 20-partner team hire that also saw the Philadelphia-headquartered firm launch in Chicago.

Latham & Watkins is widely expected to make its long-awaited entry in the city shortly. ‘There’s been a rumour for the last 12 years that Latham is coming to Dallas,’ observes one partner.

This rumour gained more traction in February this year, when the California-founded giant hired two partners in the city, recruiting litigators Taj Clayton and Scott Thomas from Kirkland and Winston & Strawn respectively.

However, Latham has not confirmed whether the hires will see it formally launch a new office in Dallas or whether they will be based in Houston. ‘Taj and Scott are just the kind of partners we want on our team, and their addition reinforces our deep connection and commitment to the vibrant Texas market and our big ambitions here,’ says Houston managing partner Nick Dhesi. ‘We are laser-focused on building the best team in this market and across our global platform to deliver outstanding results for our clients.”

Other major firms recently opening in Dallas include Paul Hastings, which launched in 2024 with its hire of an eight-partner finance team from Vinson & Elkins split across Dallas and Houston.

King & Spalding also launched in 2024, with its hire of Gibson Dunn trial lawyer Veronica Moyé, and has continued to expand this year with the addition of a total of 15 partners from Winston & Strawn, including 13 litigators and two in finance and restructuring, with all but three of the partners based in Dallas. Included among the number is Tom Melsheimer, now global head of trial at King & Spalding, described by one commentator as ‘one of the top trial lawyers in Texas, if not the top.’

A surging market

‘Everyone sees the same thing in Dallas,’ says Melsheimer. ‘A lot of business, a lot of opportunity, and a somewhat underserved legal market in terms of the big national firms.’

Many partners point to the sheer scale of the business opportunity in the city. The Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) metroplex is home to 21 Fortune 500 companies, from homegrown success stories like 7-Eleven and Southwest Airlines to national brands like AT&T, which moved its headquarters in 2008. The Texas governor’s website lists seven corporate HQ relocations to DFW in 2024, of 24 to the state in total – the most of any metropolitan area in Texas.

On top of this, a range of major banks and financial institutions have increased their investment in Dallas, with Wells Fargo opening a new campus late last year, and Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Scotiabank all launching regional hubs.

Trey Cox (pictured), global litigation co-chair at Gibson Dunn and co-partner in charge of the firm’s Dallas office alongside Hanvey, summarises the effect of this: ‘As more Fortune 500 companies and financial institutions come into the market, top 50 firms follow. With the bigger companies and the bigger law firms comes a more sophisticated set of legal services consumers. Everyone benefits from that – primarily the clients.’

This activity is already having a visible effect on Big Law in Dallas, with corporate the most active lateral hiring practice area in Dallas in 2025, according to data from legal market intelligence provider SurePoint, with 21 corporate partner hires into top 100 firms, of 62 total.

‘Dallas presents a lot of potential for law firms to build on core industry practices’

Holt Foster, who joined Willkie Farr & Gallagher from Sidley to help launch the firm’s Dallas office in 2024, and now serves as office managing partner, explains the rationale for Willkie’s move in similar terms: ‘With so many Willkie clients moving to, or expanding operations in, Dallas, Willkie felt it was important to have boots on the ground with our clients – side by side – with a first in class team of local lawyers.’

He also highlights the diversity of the Dallas market, in contrast to energy-dominated Houston: ‘Dallas has a very diverse economy with many thriving business sectors – energy, real estate, finance, technology, healthcare – the whole gamut.’

He continues: ‘Dallas presents a lot of potential for law firms to build on core industry practices, as well as cross-marketing to new clients and industries.’

Scott Parel (pictured), Dallas co-managing partner and global private equity co-lead at Sidley, makes a similar point: ‘Dallas is a different market than Houston with different businesses and industries, and that requires a strategic approach,’ he says.

This surge in activity across a broad range of industries has fed and been fed by state policy. ‘Texas doesn’t have a state income tax,’ notes Dallas-based Major, Lindsey & Africa partner recruiting group director Dave Beran. ‘It’s perceived as a place that’s friendly for business. You could almost compare it to somewhere like Dubai.’

‘The Texas Stock Exchange has the potential to spread like wildfire’

Another development with major potential is the establishment of the Texas Stock Exchange (TXSE) – a burgeoning rival to the two major US exchanges, Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). TXSE received regulatory approval last September, and is targeting a 2026 launch, with its physical headquarters in Dallas.

‘A major indicator of the strength of the market has been the establishment of the Texas Stock Exchange,’ says Haynes Boone chair and firmwide managing partner Taylor Wilson. ‘That’s indicative of a thriving financial market, and it’s also attracting a lot of interest from major corporations.’

Angela Zambrano (pictured), Dallas office co-lead, executive committee member, and litigation global practice group co-lead at Sidley, concurs: ‘It’s exciting. It says a lot about Dallas and the State of Texas. We have felt the shift of businesses to Texas for several years, and these changes are reflecting what drew many to our state – a genuine desire to help businesses thrive for the benefit of their stakeholders and employees.’

Whether the exchange will be a success remains to be seen – and to take on established players like the NYSE and Nasdaq will be no easy feat. But partners believe there are reasons for excitement.

‘They are trying to disrupt the status quo by making a real effort to be business-forward,’ says Zambrano. ‘Given the size of the business community and the general “can do” attitude in this state, this has the potential to spread like wildfire.’

Litigation drivers

In addition to corporate work, firms are also investing heavily in disputes, with Latham and King & Spalding both focusing their recent hiring efforts on litigators, and Paul Hastings bringing in litigators Stephanie Clouston and Matthew Durfee from Winston & Strawn at the end of last year.

According to data tracked by SurePoint, litigation was the most active practice area for hires into top 100 firms in Dallas for the three years between 2022-24, with 26 hires in 2022, 19 in 2023, and 18 in 2024. In 2025 it was the second most active practice area, with 16 hires.

King & Spalding’s Melsheimer (pictured) argues that this is driven by broader changes in the litigation world: ‘The cases are getting higher stakes and more challenging for defendants, there are bigger cases, and legal theories that allow for large recoveries, so companies are facing potential liability at a greater scale than perhaps ever before, and when they’re looking to their law firms, they want to be able to hire a firm that has a lawyer that has tried big cases. And with fewer and fewer cases being tried over the last 20 years, but the stakes of the cases that get tried being higher, there’s a shrinking pool of available talent.’

Here, too, the state’s business friendly policies are driving activity. Established in 2023 after decades of attempts, the Texas Business Court currently serves five jurisdictions across Texas, with a focus on high-value business disputes.

‘There’s a chance Texas becomes the new Delaware’

‘It’s a sea change in the litigation world,’ says Russell Lewis, Houston partner in charge at Baker Botts. ‘It’s driving a lot of these commercial disputes to the business courts.

It’s supposed to take some of the burden off the traditional courts, which are often quite backloaded. That backload in part is because of this influx of people and companies to Texas.’

Collin Cox, Houston co-partner in charge at Gibson Dunn, concurs: ‘The business courts are another place where demand is expressing itself. It’s really exciting. It’s a great development for us.’

Mike Absmeier (pictured), co-managing partner at Houston disputes boutique Gibbs & Bruns, sees potential: ‘There’s a chance Texas becomes the new Delaware,’ he says, referencing the long-established dominance of the Delaware Court of Chancery in high-stakes corporate governance litigation.

If it happens, though, this will be in the future – partners note that the Texas Business Court has not yet generated a major increase in new claims.

How to open in Dallas

Texas is home to a thriving ecosystem of disputes boutiques, with smaller firms prominent in both Houston and Dallas.

This means that, as elsewhere, some national and international firms see a boutique tie-up as a potential entry point to the market. But examples of success are relatively rare.

Ashley McKeand Kleber (pictured), Absmeier’s co-managing partner at Gibbs & Bruns, argues that boutique firms provide unique opportunities to develop talent, pointing to a culture where ‘young lawyers are given opportunities early, so it’s not a surprise for our clients or for judges to see young lawyers up and active in the courtroom or in depositions.’

Absmeier goes further: ‘I get inquiries about mergers all the time, but it’s not something we’re interested in. For us to merge, you’d need all our partners to say, “Heck yeah! Let’s change our name, leave our office, change our culture.” It’s not going to happen.’

‘With so many large blocks of attorneys moving in Dallas, Willkie felt the best strategy was to selectively target premier transactional partners’

Instead. many recent launches in Dallas have seen firms combine lawyers from a clutch of competitors – an approach that many argue makes it easier to integrate a new office into a firm’s existing culture.

‘In an effort to ensure we had a successful opening in Dallas, we studied the market for almost two years,’ says Willkie’s Foster (pictured).

Willkie announced its launch in May 2024 with a trio of hires from Haynes Boone, but also brought over four partners who had joined the firm since 2018 from Kirkland, Sidley, legacy Shearman & Sterling, and King & Spalding, with Foster joining that June, also from Sidley.

Since then, the firm has built out its office with hires from a range of firms, most recently including corporate partners Jesse Betts and Jessica Hammons from Akin and Nathan Meredith from A&O Shearman, all of whom joined the firm last July.

Foster explains the strategy behind this approach: ‘With so many recent firm mergers and large blocks of attorneys moving in Dallas, Willkie felt the best strategy was to selectively target some of the premier transactional partners in Dallas and build around them.

‘Opening in a market like Dallas comes with real challenges; the hardest part is building critical mass in an already tight talent market’

‘Now, almost two years into it, with 30 attorneys and growing, we feel that we picked the right approach for Dallas.’

Foster also notes issues for firms opening in Dallas: ‘While the diverse economy in Dallas makes it a very attractive destination for law firm expansion, it also presents some obstacles when trying to create synergies among lateral partners.’

Foster stresses that new hires must complement each other: ‘Building a new office by bringing together lawyers from various firms with significantly diverse practices can really create long-term obstacles for successful integration, cross marketing and market share, because there is no core theme among their respective practices,’ he says.

Sidley’s Parel, who joined his firm from Weil in 2013, alongside Zambrano, makes a similar point: ‘Opening in a market like Dallas comes with real challenges; the hardest part is building critical mass in an already tight talent market. But that’s also what makes it meaningful. When you’re able to assemble the right team in that environment, it signals long-term commitment and strength.’

The strategy is certainly popular: of the recent firms to open in Dallas, Willkie, Paul Hastings, and King & Spalding have all made prominent hires from a range of different firms – with many of these hires already noted as market-movers.

And partners are optimistic about the city’s future. ‘You don’t need a proof of concept to be in Dallas,’ says Melsheimer. ‘Texas generally and Dallas specifically are among the most thriving legal markets in the United States. Dallas makes all the sense in the world.’

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‘The energy capital of the world’ – why the global and US elite are betting on Houston

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Northern England’s first GC Powerlist revealed: Man Utd, Liverpool, Greggs and Travelodge among in-house leaders

General counsel from companies including Adidas, Manchester United, Asda and Odeon Cinemas are among a line-up of leading in-house lawyers to have been named in Legal 500’s first-ever Northern England GC Powerlist.

The list, which officially launched yesterday at a reception at Manchester’s Midland Hotel, includes more than 100 senior in-house lawyers based across the north of England.

Legal leaders from leading British and global corporations were selected for inclusion in the list based on their contributions to their company or industry sector over the last year, with the research drawing on input from their peers, the private practice partners they instruct, and the Legal 500 GC Powerlist research team.

Legal heads at 101 unique companies have been awarded a place on the list, with multiple spots for lawyers at larger corporations such as Aviva, Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group.

The launch event was introduced by Eversheds Sutherland global co-CEO Keith Froud (pictured), who paid tribute to the growing influence of in-house counsel working in the key business centres across the North.

Twelve FTSE 100 companies are represented on the list, including Autotrader, BAE Systems, Croda, DCC, Experian, HSBC, IMI and United Utilities, with strong representation from companies in the financial services, manufacturing, retail and technology sectors.

Legal heads at household name retail and consumer goods brands include Fraser Group head of legal Emma Reid, B&M general counsel Alex Simpson and Debenhams GC Sarah Petrie, who has led the company’s legal team through a busy period which has included a rebrand and a major refinancing.

Sports and media companies are also well represented on the list, with seven legal heads at Premier League football clubs, including Newcastle United GC John Devine, Manchester United GC Martin Mosley, Liverpool FC GC Jonathan Bamber and Simon Cliff, the GC of Manchester City Football Club parent company City Football Group.

Energy, utilities and infrastructure companies comprise a significant portion of the list, with representation from Siemens Energy, United Utilities, Northern Powergrid and Sellafield Limited.

View the full GC Powerlist: Northern England.

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Vinson & Elkins bets on London – New York – Houston ‘triangle’ for growth

‘I see this firm as having real strength in a triangle: London, New York and Houston,’ says Vinson & Elkins London head of transactions, Ben Higson (pictured).

The Texas-founded firm, which now has 14 offices across the world, has benefitted from this geographic balance, Higson maintains: ‘There is no other firm in the world that has the strength we have in Texas that also has the strength we have in New York and London.’

Although the firm doesn’t break down its financial performance by office, last year’s results for the business globally suggest the ‘triangle’ is working. In 2025, V&E grew its firmwide revenue by 7.8% to reach $1.13bn, its biggest increase in revenue since 2021. Meanwhile, profit per equity partner (PEP) climbed by just over 12% to $4.51m.

‘We had some tremendous mandates – and that’s what’s driven the financial performance,’ says Higson.

Higson’s belief in the benefits of a strong Houston presence comes as the broader Texan market attracts increasing interest from global law firms.  Simpson Thacher announced plans to open in Dallas in February, with Dechert and Latham & Watkins also investing in the city.

V&E, however, has a deep history in the state, with offices in Austin and Dallas alongside its first – and largest – base in Houston.

Although its Texas roots have helped V&E build a strong reputation in energy and infrastructure, the firm has also been steadily building relationships with private capital clients over the years, including Apollo and Blackstone.

The firm advised Blackstone on several deals last year, including its $4bn acquisition of MacLean Power from Centerbridge Partners in December. Last March, Higson also worked alongside partners Dan Komarek in New York and Abby Branigan in Dallas, advising Apollo on its acquisition of OEG Energy Group, valued at over $1bn.

‘Through the triangle, we have developed a stronger relationship here with several private capital clients than we had before,’ says Higson, who joined the firm at the end of 2022 from Hogan Lovells.

V&E’s London office also serves as its gateway for global mandates, such as advising Bahraini energy company Bapco on its concession and joint venture arrangement with a Bahraini subsidiary of EOG Resources in September 2025.

Now Higson says the firm wants to capitalise on its investment and expand further in the City.  ‘In London, we’re in growth mode,’ he says. ‘There are two aspects to that. One is identifying where the growth areas are and the second is finding the right people to populate these areas.’ Recently, the firm hired tax partner Ed Moberly to its transactions practice from Kirkland & Ellis in London as part of these plans.

Moberly says his decision to move was influenced by V&E’s sector expertise, which he believes makes it less susceptible to market shocks. ‘I think there’s something incredibly AI‑proof about what we do,’ says Moberly.

‘Of course, we use new tools wherever they add value – but in sectors from energy to infrastructure and construction, it’s deep, domain‑specific experience that really makes the difference. That’s what allows technology to amplify – not displace – our impact,’ he adds.

Last September, V&E also hired two aviation finance partners from A&O Shearman in London, bringing in Ainsley Ireland and Harry Upcott.

Now it is looking beyond London. Notably, it recently launched in Brussels with the hire of Hogan Lovells antitrust partner May Lyn Yuen. The base marks V&E’s fifth office outside of the US. Yuen, who plans to split her time between London and Brussels, is also the first antitrust partner working in the London office.

Her hire reunites her with Higson, as the pair worked together closely at Hogan Lovells. Commenting on the launch Higson says: ‘Brussels is a really important market for a firm that has a strong transactions practice. But it also allows us to advise clients on other aspects of what they do. We want to provide our clients with a wider remit of European antitrust advice.’

Despite V&E’s recent growth, the impact of the war in Iran on energy prices and trade may pose a threat to its continued success. As Higson admits: ‘There’s a lot of uncertainty.  Uncertainty is a very difficult landscape for investors, business people, corporations and private capital to engage with. So it’s caused quite a lot of people to pause.’

That said, he maintains resilience is embedded within the energy world.  ‘This is one thing that people who are engaged in energy work are used to, because the energy markets are always uncertain. They’re always having to think ahead.’

‘I have some confidence that the nature of our firm, our reputation, and the fact that we are experts in energy and infrastructure, mean that we ought to be very well placed to continue to win work, irrespective of the uncertainty,’ he concludes.

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Freshfields inks multi-year partnership with Anthropic

Freshfields has entered into a multi-year partnership with Anthropic, rolling out Claude across the firm and agreeing to collaborate on development of further AI services and workflows.

The UK-founded firm has already provided access to Anthropic AI model family Claude to 5,700 employees through its proprietary general AI platform, with adoption and usage up by around 500% within the first six weeks.

The agreement will also see Freshfields collaborate with the San Francisco-headquartered AI leader to deliver ‘AI-native legal services’ as well as ‘novel legal agentic workflows.’ according to a statement.

As part of the agreement, the firm plans to expand its use to Claude Cowork, Anthropic’s agentic AI platform.

The move comes a year after Freshfields struck a separate agreement with Google Cloud to roll out Gemini with Google Workspace across the firm, as one play in what it called at the time its ‘tech-agnostic innovation strategy.’

Commenting on the Anthropic deal, Freshfields chief innovation officer Gil Perez said: ‘Partnering with Anthropic strengthens our ability to co-innovate at pace and to bring new capabilities into our work in a way that is secure, compliant and focused on client needs.’

Gerrit Beckhaus, partner and co-head of Freshfields Lab, the firm’s multidisciplinary tech solution-development team, added: ‘Our approach in the Freshfields Lab has always been to build on the best available technology. Claude’s capabilities have become an essential part of our proprietary AI-powered solutions.’

‘With this collaboration, we are going further: co-developing agentic workflows with Anthropic that can handle multi-step legal tasks end-to-end. For our clients, that translates into faster, more precise and more scalable legal services,’ he concluded.

Kate Jensen, head of Americas at Anthropic, also commented, saying: ‘Freshfields operates at the highest levels of global law. Their decision to go wall-to-wall with Claude — across legal work, business services, and now agentic workflows — is the clearest signal yet that the enterprise AI moment in professional services has arrived.’

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Taylor Rose fined by SRA for over £160,000

Solicitors Regulation Authority

Taylor Rose is facing a £160,059 fine from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) for breaching regulatory requirements.

The SRA began an investigation into the LB 100 firm in 2023, and found that Taylor Rose failed to adequately manage bank reconciliations and residual balances.

The regulator found that the firm had not fully reconciled its main client bank account every five weeks, that the most recent accounts contained a significant number of unreconciled items, and that these had increased every month since April 2022, and had been carried over into subsequent months. These failures meant that the firm failed to promptly return client money from June 2018 to August 2025.

The firm then entered into a compliance plan with the SRA in December 2024, from which it was released after it was deemed to have met its targets in August 2025. 

Taylor Rose acquired a number of firms from administration in the period 2018-2020, including Hertfordshire-based firm Breeze & Wyles and Southeast-based McMillan Williams, from which the firm then incurred residual balances.

The firm states that the issues identified by the SRA stem from these acquisitions.

While the SRA concluded that the fine, as well as £1,350 in costs, was an appropriate sanction for the firm, it did not identify any loss to clients, and placed the misconduct in band A, its lowest band.

Additionally, the fine was reduced by 30% following Taylor Rose’s cooperation with the SRA and implementation of remedies.

Taylor Rose operates nearly 20 offices across England, with its network spanning 775 lawyers and 88 partners. It generated £96.2m in revenue in the 2024-25 financial year – enough to place it within the top 60 UK-headquartered firms.

A spokesperson for Taylor Rose said in a statement: ‘While the issues predominantly stem from cases taken on with acquisitions of other firms between 2018 and 2020, we fully accept that we didn’t adequately deal with these issues at the time, partially due to a number of external factors impacting the capacity of our finance team.’

They continued: ‘They have now been fully resolved, and we have since put robust procedures in place to ensure strong governance of these matters.’

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Dechert and SFO sued for $168m in ongoing ENRC trial

Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) has entered trial proceedings against the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and Dechert, to claim a reduced figure of $168m in losses incurred during a decade-long investigation.

The company is seeking damages following previous court rulings that found the SFO, throughout its investigation, and retired Dechert partner Neil Gerrard, throughout his representation of ENRC which concluded in 2013, had acted unlawfully.

ENRC is now seeking $168m in compensation, reduced from $290m, for losses it incurred as a result of the investigation.

The SFO begun its investigation into ENRC in 2013 before closing it in 2023, without bringing any charges against the company. ENRC accused Gerrard of leaking news to the press in 2011 and 2013, which the company believes launched the SFO investigation.

The case, originally pursued by ENRC against Dechert in 2017 and against the SFO since 2019, is being heard at the Commercial Court, King’s Bench Division, in the second phase of proceedings this week.

The first phase of the trial was concluded in 2022, where the High Court ruled in favour of ENRC. This was appealed by Dechert and SFO, but ultimately upheld at the Court of Appeals in 2024.

In a statement, head of litigation strategy for ENRC Dmitry Vozianov said: ‘Dechert should be held to account in full for conduct that the High Court found involved grave breaches of duty to its own client. Conduct of that nature has no place in the legal profession.’

‘The SFO should likewise be held accountable for what the Court has already ruled as serious wrongdoing, including bad-faith opportunism, and for pursuing an investigation that ran for more than a decade without a single charge being brought. ENRC self-reported and cooperated, yet still faced years of unnecessary and deeply damaging process,’ he continued.

LB understands that, for losses in the phase 2 period, from March 2013 to August 2023, the SFO would seek a substantial contribution from Dechert, in line with previous splits of damages.

A spokesperson for the SFO said: ‘We strongly contest ENRC’s position and will challenge this at trial. All damages must be based on proof of loss.’

In a statement, a Dechert spokesperson said: ‘Dechert denies it is liable for any losses claimed in Phase 2 of the litigation.’

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‘It’s not clear what the case for reform is’ – partners react to Law Commission plans for consumer class actions

The UK government has announced plans to examine whether to introduce a new consumer class actions regime in England and Wales.

If introduced, the new regime would expand the scope for opt-out class actions, which can currently only be heard for competition claims in the Competition Appeals Tribunal (CAT).

The Law Commission, backed by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), will consider the advantages and disadvantages of a distinct consumer class action regime, alongside questions of ‘effective enforcement’ in opt-out consumer law.

Key objectives of the project as laid out by the Law Commission include ‘Improving consumers’ access to redress, both by securing redress in court and by ensuring that damages are distributed to the affected class,’ as well as ‘Promoting the efficient conduct of litigation and proportionate cost.’

The project is set to begin in autumn 2026, with stakeholder engagement forming part of an initial scoping phase ahead of a formal consultation.

Freshfields London dispute resolution practice head Andrew Austin was sceptical: ‘It’s early in this process and we’re likely some way away from any concrete proposals for change,’ he said. ‘But it’s not clear what the case is for reform: what is the evidence that consumers aren’t currently getting access to justice in consumer law cases?’

He also pointed to the extension of the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) consumer protection powers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, adding: ‘In his recent letter that announced this review, the Business Secretary acknowledged that consumers already have “strong protections against exploitative behaviours”, and he emphasised the CMA’s new powers to investigate consumer detriment.’

‘The Law Commission will be able to take into account learnings from the last ten years of the competition consumer regime’

On the other hand, Hausfeld senior partner Anthony Maton welcomed the news, saying: ‘We have long advocated the widening of the competition collective regime to other areas where at present consumers cannot access justice to achieve restitution, so very much welcome the decision of the DBT to ask the Law Commission to look at consumer collectives.’

Under the terms of reference, the Law Commission will also consider the government’s conclusions in an ongoing review of the current opt-out collective proceedings regime in the CAT, in particular its assessment of whether certain sectors are ‘disproportionally targeted’ by litigants and ‘the effectiveness of distribution of damages.’

Questioning the objectivity of this framing, Maton said he was ‘slightly baffled that it is announced before the DBT’s own publication around collective redress which we have been told is imminent.

‘It is somewhat odd that the Terms of Reference seem to pre-judge the conclusions of the current DBT review into the competition regime in talking about “targeting” of defendants, the “exploitation” of actions, “evidence of pent up demand” and the questions only focus on opt out,’ he continued.

Kate Vernon, head of competition litigation at Quinn Emanuel‘s London office, expressed faith in the review process: ‘The work that the Law Commission is proposing will be able to take into account the learnings from the last ten years of the competition consumer regime and look at how Government can design a system that is effective and recognises the different roles that defendants, funders, lawyers and consumer bodies can, and will need to, play in making any new consumer redress system work.’

If it finds that such a regime would be beneficial, the Law Commission will set out proposals for the regime’s design, including how claims are defined, certification criteria and mechanisms for funding, costs and damages. It will also consider whether the proposed regime should allow for ‘opt-in’ as well as ‘opt-out’ claims.

‘It’s an early step with a long road ahead, and its importance should not be overstated’

Clifford Chance London litigation partner Maxine Mossman noted that the project forms part of a broader shift in collective litigation policy: ‘The Law Commission’s renewed focus on collective consumer redress forms part of a wider reassessment within the legal sector regarding how group claims are litigated in England and Wales,’ she told LB.

She also noted unresolved questions around the 2023 PACCAR ruling’s restrictions on percentages-based funding agreements: ‘The impact of the existing opt‑out regime for breaches of competition law is currently under review, and the position on litigation funding remains uncertain following PACCAR, notwithstanding the Government’s commitment to legislate on the issue. While the consultation is framed as an initial scoping exercise, the implications could be far‑reaching.’

Slaughter and May consumer protection head Tim Blanchard also highlighted the need to place the announcement in the context of wider developments, citing ‘the DBT’s call for evidence on the CAT’s opt-out collective proceedings regime’ and ‘the CMA’s willingness to order redress in its own enforcement cases.’

‘It is an early step though (with a long road ahead), and its importance should not be overstated,’ he added.

For Hogan Lovells litigation partner Matthew Felwick, the project was not unexpected given increasing pressure for opt-out style mechanisms: ‘Over the years the calls for an opt-out procedure have been increasing. A generic class action was rejected in favour of a sectoral approach, leading to the introduction of the CAT class action regime for competition claims. Since then, pressure has continued to mount.’

However, he was wary of the outcome of defining a ‘consumer law claim’ in the proposed regime: ‘Even if a narrow definition of consumer law is ultimately recommended, many sectors and businesses would be facing increased litigation risk. The review should be monitored closely and consideration given to responding to the scoping questionnaire or the consultation that will follow, either directly or through an industry association.’

The issue of certification has also troubled the CAT, with critics arguing that the regime has not been sufficiently tightly circumscribed. Last year, the Tribunal dismissed three parallel class actions against train operating companies alleging abuse of dominance on the grounds that they were consumer claims, not competition.

‘The risk of introducing new collective action mechanisms is that they can lead to speculative litigation and impose unnecessary costs on businesses’

Another central criticism of the CAT has been the potential for enormous commercial benefits to lawyers and funders in comparison to the returns meted out to class members following large fees. Last week, the CAT refused to certify an opt-out £382m class action claim brought by Simmons & Simmons against salmon price fixing by a group of producers on these grounds.

In its judgment, it stated that such returns can ‘distort the incentive to pursue such proceedings. This distortion arises in part because many class actions are initiated by legal teams and not by the class itself.’

Freshfields’ Austin sounded a warning note that a new opt-out regime would see these issues recur: ‘The risk of introducing new collective action mechanisms – particularly on an opt-out basis – is that they can lead to speculative litigation and impose unnecessary costs on business. I’m sure this – and the procedural safeguards that would need to apply in terms of e.g. a rigorous class certification stage, transparency around litigation funding and full protection of defendants’ rights – will be front of mind for the Law Commission.’

Funders, however, have long argued that their businesses play a crucial role in securing access to justice. And many have welcomed news of the review.

Neil Purslow, chairman of the executive committee of the International Legal Finance Association, was positive: ‘It is encouraging to see the Government tasking the Law Commission to examine ways of expanding consumer redress. Consumers and small businesses too often lack a realistic route to hold corporate wrongdoers accountable.’

Jeremy Marshall, chief investment officer at Winward Litigation Finance said: ‘For it to work in practice, it is vital that the Government recognises and protects the role of litigation funding, without which these claims can’t be brought. Funding turns legal rights into real-world outcomes, providing justice for consumers and deterring bad corporate behaviour. They should have a good look at how funders and consumer groups have worked collaboratively in Australia.’

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Sullivan & Cromwell apologises after AI hallucinations included in court motion

A Sullivan & Cromwell partner has apologised after AI hallucinations were included in a motion filed in a federal court in New York.

In a letter sent on 18 April to Chief Judge Martin Glenn at the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, Andrew Dietderich, founder and co-head of S&C’s global restructuring group, acknowledged and apologised for the error.

‘We sincerely regret the errors in the Motion and the burden they have imposed on the Court and the parties,’ said Dietderich.

Dietderich added that he had also apologised to the team from Boies Schiller Flexner representing the opposing clients, after they had initially spotted the errors.

In total, S&C noted 21 inaccuracies in the motion, some of which it attributed to hallucinations. Dietderich catalogued and included the errors in an appendix to the letter. One of the errors appears to be an inaccurate Westlaw identifier relating to the 2022 liquidation of Three Arrows Capital. The inaccurate identifier was included three times in the original motion.

The firm is acting for the joint provisional liquidators of 30 British Virgin Islands-incorporated entities associated with the Prince Group in Chapter 15 proceedings. Alongside Dietderich, the New York-based team includes national security practice co-head Sharon Cohen Levin, corporate governance litigation practice co-head Jake Croke, restructuring partner Aleza Kranzley, and litigation partner Chris Dunne.

The filing follows the indictment of Chen Zhi, the controlling owner of the Prince Group, in October last year. He is alleged to have directed forced-labour scam compounds in Cambodia where trafficked individuals carried out ‘pig butchering’ cryptocurrency frauds that stole billions from victims globally.

While it is not known which member made the error, Dietderich took responsibility for the error on behalf of the S&C team. ‘The Firm and I are keenly aware of our responsibility to ensure the accuracy of all submissions including under Local Bankruptcy Rule 9011-1(d),’ he added.

He further noted: ‘the Firm’s policies governing AI use are both clear and rigorous. Access to AI tools is conditioned on completion of mandatory training. Before any Firm lawyer is granted access to generative AI tools, the lawyer must complete two required training modules, completion of which is tracked and verified.’

‘The Firm is also evaluating whether further enhancements to its internal training and review processes are warranted,’ he concluded.

The apology will be seen as embarrassing for one of the world’s most prestigious and profitable law firms, with $6.74m in profit per equity partner in last year’s Global 100 ranking, and more than $2bn in revenue.

For its part, Boies Schiller Flexner has also included AI errors in a case citation in the recent past, in a 2025 civil case relating to the actor Danny Masterson, who was convicted in May 2023 of raping two women. In a filing in a California appeals court, John Kucera, then a partner at the firm, said he was ‘embarrassed by and very much regret these errors’ in a motion acknowledging that a filed response brief from the firm contained ‘material citation errors’ linked to use of AI.

Kucera left BSF in March, and is now an assistant US attorney for the Northern District of California at the US Department of Justice.

Sullivan & Cromwell has been approached for comment.

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Photo: Unsplash – Jason Briscoe

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Ashurst promotes 18 in final round pre-merger, with Addleshaws, Osborne Clarke, Clydes also announcing

Ashurst and Addleshaw Goddard head a quartet of firms announcing partner promotions, with the round representing Ashurst’s final set of new partners before its merger with Perkins Coie goes live in July.

Ashurst has promoted 18 new partners globally, down slightly on last year’s figure of 20.

This year’s promotions are evenly split among the EMEA/US and APAC regions, with nine in APAC and nine across the UK, EMEA, and the US – a significant change from last year’s split, when 85% of the firm’s new partners were in EMEA. These included 11 in London, meaning that the firm’s City promotions have more than halved year-on-year, with five this year.

By contrast, all nine APAC partners were made up across the firm’s Australia offices – a sharp increase from last year’s three.

The cohort is evenly split by gender, with women making up half of the new partners, up from 40% last year and in line with Ashurst’s five-year rolling average.

Disputes, global loans and energy transition account for 61% of the new partners.

Global chair Karen Davies (pictured) said: ‘I’d like to congratulate our 18 new partners on this very well-deserved milestone. They each represent the best of us as a firm: high-quality talent, and, importantly, trusted advisers.’

Addleshaws, meanwhile, has promoted 17 lawyers to its partnership – a small increase on last year’s figure of 15.

Four of the new partners are based in London, with 12 of the 17 based across the firm’s UK offices in total. The remaining five are spread between in Dubai, Dublin, Madrid and Warsaw.

Last year, the firm made up six new partners in London, with four in its other UK offices, two in Madrid, and one each in Riyadh, Berlin, and Dubai.

Finance was again the most well represented practice area, with three promotions, in line with last year. Infrastructure projects and energy dipped from three promotions last year to one, while disputes saw the biggest increase, from one new partner last year to four this year, including new partners in employment disputes.

Managing partner Andrew Johnston said: ‘This talented group of new partners broadens and deepens the expertise we are able to offer to our clients where they need us most.’

Osborne Clarke has promoted six new partners, with three in Bristol, two in London, and one in Reading. The figure is down from last year’s 10, when London saw the highest number of new partners, with seven.

Of the new London partners Lara Fatemi is an employment lawyer and Keir Pimblett is a member of the projects team.

Conrad Davies, UK managing partner said: ‘This year’s promotions reflect the outstanding breadth and depth of talent across our firm, with new partners in all of our UK offices in London, Bristol and Reading, many of whom started with us as trainees.’

Finally, Clyde & Co has promoted 28 lawyers to partner in its latest round, up from 25 last year, with women accounting for 61% of the cohort.

The promotions include 10 in North America, up from eight last year, as the firm continues to expand aggressively in the region. Following launches in Seattle and Indiana this year, Clyde & Co now has more than 100 partners across 21 offices in the US and Canada.

The UK accounted for 11 of the promotions, including seven in London, down from 12 last year, with four in London. Elsewhere, this year two partners were made up in Europe and Latin America respectively, alongside two in the Middle East and Africa and one in Asia-Pacific.

Senior partner Carolena Gordon said: ‘These promotions reflect our ongoing investment in outstanding talent across the firm and strengthen our ability to meet clients’ evolving needs with the depth, sector expertise and global reach required to support them across their businesses.’

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Ashurst partner promotions in full:

United Kingdom

  • Max Strasberg, dispute resolution, London
  • Sophie Suri, tax, London
  • Kate Davies, global loans, London
  • Nicholas Jupp, global loans, London
  • Darren Phelan, global loans, London

EMEA

  • Annabel Massey, global markets, Paris
  • Nicola Toscano, projects and energy transition, Milan
  • Raquel Tarancon Plata, projects and energy transition, Abu Dhabi

APAC

  • Arjuna (AJ) Guruge, Ashurst Advance Digital, Melbourne
  • John McKellar, competition, Melbourne
  • Sharon Liu, corporate transactions, Sydney
  • Phillip Aquilina, dispute resolution, Sydney
  • Srishti Natesh, dispute resolution, Sydney
  • Nick Perkins, IP/media, Sydney
  • Wilson Liu, global loans, Sydney
  • Libby McKillop, planning, access and environment, Brisbane
  • Kate Gould, real estate, Perth

US

  • Alexis Rosenberg, projects and energy transition, New York

Addleshaw Goddard partner promotions in full:

UK

  • Stephen Fishbourne, financial regulation, London
  • Philip Milsom, transactional real estate, London
  • Aziz Abdul, restructuring, London
  • David Palmer, employment, London
  • Edward Ainscoe, corporate, London
  • Laura McAuley, construction, Leeds
  • Philippa McCarthy, finance, Leeds
  • Geoffrey McGinley, finance, Leeds
  • James Washington, finance, Leeds
  • Tom Lister, construction, Manchester
  • Jake Minards-Tonge, commercial disputes, Manchester
  • Ryan Openshaw, commercial disputes, Aberdeen

EMEA

  • Gonzalo Fernández, corporate, Madrid
  • Tomasz Trystula, transactional real estate, Warsaw
  • Jakub Dabrowski, infrastructure projects and energy, Warsaw
  • James Whittam, corporate, Dubai
  • Kate Field, employment, Dublin
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Revolving Doors: Mayer Brown hires Kirkland lev fin partner as Garrigues and Cuatrecasas make moves in Chile

Leveraged finance partner Sarah Goodwin has joined Mayer Brown from Kirkland & Ellis, where she spent a little over four years as a partner, having joined from Fried Frank, where she was a senior associate.

Goodwin advises sponsors and their portfolio companies, as well as private credit providers on a range of products, including bank/bond financings, syndicated and private credit facilitates.

‘Sarah’s experience navigating complex capital structures, combined with her strong commercial instincts and long-standing client relationships, will broaden our private capital offering,’ head of London leveraged finance Philip Butler said. Goodwin has worked for clients including Vista Equity Partners, where she helped advise on its investment in JobLogic last year.

Haynes Boone has bolstered its real estate bench with the addition of Angus Ford, who recently spent just over a year as head of UK and European real estate at Brown Rudnick, having moved there in December 2024 after 12 years at Eversheds Sutherland.

Ford brings extensive experience advising on high-value real estate transactions supporting investors, developers and occupiers across the life-cycle of their assets. Senior data center and real estate counsel Martha Williams moves alongside Ford.

Also active in real estate was Addleshaw Goddard, which has hired its 12th real estate partner in 12 months, bringing Miles Sinclair into its Manchester office. Sinclair joins from DWF, where made partner in 2024. His practice is focussed on advising developers, pension funds and major occupiers across a range of sectors such as social infrastructure or build-to-rent housing.

Back in London, Shoosmiths has hired Peter Stockill, previously head of construction advisory and dispute resolution, at Penningtons Manches Cooper, where he spent eight years. Stockill has extensive experience in avoiding and minimising disputes for his clients which range from property owners, developers and contractors who seek advice on project delivery and management of issues that arise in the process.

For its part, Penningtons has hired employment partner Graham Green from Eversheds, where he was a partner for more than two years after joining from Reed Smith. Green, who will be based predominantly in Cambridge, is a well-respected lawyer in TV and film media, having worked with clients including the BBC, Netflix as well as FTSE 100 companies. Green advised the BBC on its equal pay grievance process and the ensuing litigation.

Contentious probate partner Matthew Morton has joined Ward Hadaway from Weightmans where he was national head of disputed wills, trusts and estates, a post he held for eight years. His practice focuses on complex family structures of private individuals and their high-value estates. Morton will lead the development of this practice in Yorkshire and the North West. The hire is part of a broader plan to develop the firm’s private client practice.

Finally in the UK, Winkworth Sherwood has hired specialist real estate and construction energy lawyer Rubianka Winspear as a partner in London. Winspear was previously a senior associate at Trowers & Hamlins where she spent 11 years. She has particular knowledge of the newly regulated heat network market and electric vehicle charger and other retrofit energy projects. She will advise the firm’s clients on energy aspects of real estate projects.

To close, a pair of Spanish-headquartered firms has made major moves in Santiago de Chile. Garrigues has struck a deal to combine its practices in the country with Chilean firm Barros Silva Varela & Vigil (BSVV), in a move that will give the merged firm 130 lawyers in Chile, with 24 partners, including 11 from BSVV. 

The combination will give Garrigues three new Legal 500 rankings in Chile, where BSVV has Tier 3 rankings in competition and antitrust and environment, and a Tier 4 ranking in mining, in addition to four rankings that overlap with Garrigues’ and recognition as a firm to watch in compliance.

Garrigues launched in Chile in 2016 through a combination with local firm Avendaño Merino. It made €527.69m in revenue in 2025, with international business accounting for more than 17% of the total, up 44.5% year-on-year. Last February, it formalised the integration of Mexican firm Sánchez Devanny into Garrigues Mexico.

Also in Santiago, Cuatrecasas has hired DLA Piper’s co-head of US and Latin America tax Amory Heine. Heine was at DLA Piper for four and a half years, and brings a strong base of experience advising on multijurisdictional tax litigation and wealth planning matters.

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‘You see the shoulders coming down’ – the network supporting GCs under pressure

Academic, author and McKinsey advisor Steven MacGregor founded the General Counsel Wellbeing Network in 2024 to help senior in-house lawyers manage high-pressure careers while sustaining performance and healthy team and organisational cultures.

The network is is nominated for Mental Health & Wellbeing Initiative of the Year at the Legal 500 UK ESG Awards 2026, which will take place at the Intercontinental London Park Lane next Thursday (30 April).

He spoke to Legal Business about the pressures of heavy workloads, the isolation that can be experienced by in-house lawyers, and the impact of technology and AI-driven change on their roles.

Why did you decide to launch the General Counsel Wellbeing Network?

I’ve been working in the space of strategic wellbeing, performance, and positive culture for close to two decades. But I felt that the legal sector was an example of an extreme use case. With a lot of these issues – technology disruption, workload overwhelm and mental health, and how that links to ways of working – I felt that I could make a difference and help these people out.

Why general counsel?

All lawyers are under significant pressure, but in-house lawyers often have an additional layer of pressure because they can be isolated within their organisation.

If we want to build a successful network, then you have two main sources of potential value. You have the content regarding the tools and methods of wellbeing, performance, culture, and ways of working. Then you’ve also got the peer-to-peer support, and you put both elements together, and it creates a real potent mix that can actually move the needle on change.

Moving towards sustainable behavioural change is a huge step. Most of my work in the last 10 years has been focused on looking at building habits and how that links to the aggregate level and actually changing the culture within an organisation.

What are some of the unique problems that GCs face?

On one level, the sheer volume of work and not having space to breathe or recover. On another, the huge levels of uncertainty in terms of technology disruption, AI and how they deal with that, and even job insecurity. The third big one is isolation – being viewed as a blocker within an organisation, which can mean they don’t feel they can connect on a human level with people in their own organisation. These three things often combine on a ‘nervous system’ level which can impact deeply on their personal and professional lives.

What does the network offer GCs, and how does it work?

Principally, it’s a year-long leadership curriculum, comprised of a workshop and a webinar once per quarter. The workshops are two-hour content sessions, with an hour before and after for networking. We look at different themes in all eight sessions throughout the year, and also have an ongoing touchpoint via WhatsApp groups.

What we try to create when we have the workshops is that we close the door, and there’s no photographs and no recording. You see the shoulders coming down, people can breathe, and it’s that safe space that they can share with their peers and learn about being a more effective leader.

How does collaboration with law firms play into this?

Pinsent Masons is currently the main sponsor for the UK, and they have also extended that to the Middle East. We have a number of relationships with law firms whereby they provide the support so that membership for senior in-house counsel is free.

We’re very clear with the firms that there has to be a real cultural alignment in terms of values and how they work. And where we have the presence of the firms, we don’t have 10 partners trying to build relationships in the room. We have a very low ratio of partners, and it is with a stipulation that these folks are also part of the journey, so that they are invested in the learning. They’re just being as vulnerable as any of the other participants, and they’re fully on board with what we’re trying to do.

What are the goals of the network?

At the end of the day, it’s about leadership performance, and it’s specifically performance under pressure. A lot of people see the word ‘wellbeing’, and they think that wellbeing is wellness. But wellbeing is not the same as wellness – wellness is something separate from work, and it also implies an element of fixing the damage that we do in work.

Wellbeing is different. It’s part of our daily lived experience, and it’s also tied to the business case. We legitimise wellbeing, and make it strategic, showing how it can be a performance lever.

The network isn’t reactive group therapy. It isn’t about a sticking plaster that tries to fix people after they’ve done the damage. We recognise that people might be under pressure, but we try to be more proactive with the root cause. And we try and not just have a coping mechanism, but re-engineer the way that they approach their work, and so we’re looking at changing ways of working. We’re looking at changing culture within the in-house legal profession, and we’re looking at allowing these people to elevate their performance. Health and wellbeing is a major element and we never lose track of how people get the job done.

Who does the network cater to?

Generally, we look at a minimum of 10 years’ post-qualification experience, and in a full-time role as a senior in-house counsel within an organisation. Those between roles are also very welcome.

How many members are currently part of the network?

We’re currently 500-plus globally, which includes 200 in the UK. I’m happy that it’s growing organically – it’s growing in the right way, and it’s growing with senior people. We are very precise on what we want. It’s in-house, and it’s very senior level, because that’s what we feel the content and the conversation is most suited to.

What’s next for the network?

Growth and consolidation of the different chapters, for one. The UK and Middle East chapters are growing strongly, with Spain, Ireland and Continental Europe also in development. We also have our first APAC event in Bangkok this week, with the idea being to establish a Singapore hub soon.

Content development is the other main area of development. We want to cater to the real needs of senior in-house counsel and in the next six weeks, we will start webinars delivered by the membership. So rather than me being a bottleneck or only me always delivering content, we’ll aim to activate the membership as content creators as well as consumers.

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For more information on the Legal 500 UK ESG Awards, or to enquire about attending/sponsoring, please contact Kylie MacKenzie.

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Competition for talent heats up as Wachtell restructuring head lands at Kirkland

Kirkland & Ellis has hired Wachtell restructuring and finance chair Joshua Feltman, as the global elite continue to compete for talent in the increasingly important field of liability management.

Kirkland’s hire of Feltman, a Wachtell lifer who joined the firm in 2002 and made partner in 2010, comes after the departure of heavyweight restructuring partner David Nemecek, who left for Simpson Thacher in February to head the firm’s newly created capital structure solutions practice.

Feltman’s experience in liability management has seen him advise on some of the most novel transactions in the area, including advising alternative asset managers Angelo Gordon and Centerbridge in connection with a $1.3bn dropdown financing to and subsequent restructuring of Envision Healthcare and its Amsurg business, and advising a group of second lien noteholders in connection with the multibillion-dollar dropdown restructuring of AMC Theatres.

Other examples of high-profile work include advising a group of noteholders in connection with the liquidation of Toys R Us in 2018, with Kirkland representing Toys R Us. He also joined Wachtell’s litigation team that acted for Twitter in 2022 when Elon Musk was compelled to follow through on his acquisition of the social media site.

Last week the Financial Times reported that Kirkland had offered Feltman a pay package of $80m over three years.

Recent hires for Kirkland include New York debt finance partner Adam Griffin, who joined from Orrick in February, and New York structured finance partner Darren Littlejohn, who joined from Clifford Chance in March.

For its part, Wachtell has seen a clutch of departures in recent years, in a rare situation for the single-office Wall Street firm. These include restructuring and finance partner John Sobolewski, who moved to Latham & Watkins last February to head up the firm’s liability management practice. He has since been followed to Latham by partners including dealmaker Zach Podolsky as well as banking partner Emily Johnson and private equity and M&A partner Mark Stagliano.

Kirkland executive committee chair Jon Ballis said that Feltman’s arrival ‘will significantly enhance our already market-leading finance, restructuring and liability management practices.’

Restructuring partners and executive committee members Edward Sassower and Joshua Sussberg added: ‘We have known Josh for our entire careers and have long been hoping he’d join Kirkland. Not only is he universally recognized as a leading talent, but he’s a terrific person and will fit seamlessly into our team-focused and collaborative culture.’

[email protected]

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HSF Kramer makes up 25 new partners in first round since transatlantic tie-up

Herbert Smiths Freehills Kramer has today (21 April) elected 25 new lawyers to the firm’s partnership in its first promotions round since the transatlantic tie-up between legacy Herbert Smith Freehills and legacy Kramer Levin went live last summer.

This year’s class is up from 19 at legacy HSF last year, with London remaining the city with the most new partners, up to seven from five last year. In its final round of partner promotions before the merger, legacy Kramer Levin promoted three partners last January, all in the firm’s New York head office.

Today’s announcement saw two new partners made up in New York, both of whom were from legacy HSF. However, in January, the firm made up five new partners, all from legacy Kramer Levin in New York. Last year legacy HSF promoted one partner in the New York while legacy Kramer Levin promoted three.

Of the two new partners in New York announced today, one is a mining energy M&A lawyer – a key area of focus for the firm’s US expansion. There are a total of 10 promotions in the firm’s APAC offices, with six in Sydney, four in Melbourne, one in Singapore and one in Hong Kong. The remaining four promotions are in continental Europe, with two in Paris, and one each in Milan and Madrid.

The hires reflect the firm’s expressed priorities, in energy and infrastructure, as well as private capital and disputes, while the geographic spread reflects the firm’s desire to strength its capabilities along what it calls in a statement ‘key business corridors.’

Global CEO Justin D’Agostino said: ‘These promotions show the depth of talent across our network, underscore our position as a global legal powerhouse – and reflect our commitment to investing in our people. Each of our talented new partners has demonstrated qualities that reinforce our ability to deliver at the highest levels. And each will play an important role in helping us deliver on our Ambition strategy.’

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London:

  • Christopher Cox, commercial litigation, class actions, reputation management
  • Sam Cundall, energy
  • Ian Mack, planning
  • Nic Patmore, financial services litigation
  • Sophie Thompson, M&A
  • Alex Wright, corporate real estate
  • Richard Wright, private equity infrastructure

Europe:

  • Sung-Hyuk Kwon, Paris, M&A
  • Camille Lartigue, Paris, M&A
  • Sara Balice, Milan, intellectual property
  • Miguel Garcia-Casas, Madrid, corporate crime & investigations

Australia:

  • Nataly Adams, Sydney, class actions and commercial litigation
  • Sophie Beaman, Sydney, industrial relations
  • Tom Dougherty, Sydney, environment, planning and communities
  • Stuart Robertson, Sydney, commercial property, infrastructure and energy
  • Anna Vandervliet, Sydney, intellectual property, tech and ESG
  • Bailee Walker, Sydney, corporate projects, energy & infrastructure
  • Matthew Eglezos, Melbourne, class actions and commercial litigation
  • Skye Kirby, Melbourne, corporate projects, energy & infrastructure
  • Amy Repse, Melbourne, corporate finance, debt capital markets and securitisation
  • Simon Walker, Melbourne, M&A]

Asia:

  • Francis Greenway, Singapore – international arbitration
  • Yida Xu, Hong Kong – energy

US:

  • Tyler Hendry, New York, employment
  • Danielle MacGillivray, New York – mining & energy, M&A, joint ventures and finance
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Private equity hires in London nearly double in 2025, new findings show

Fifty private equity partners were hired in London last year, up from 28 the previous year, according to a new report by recruitment firm Macrae.

The report covers partner-level hires into law firms in London, focusing on the top global firms as well as the UK top 100.

While the majority of the moves (33)  were lateral partner-to-partner level hires, seven of the hires came from in-house roles, highlighting the trend for moves away from buyout houses towards private practice. A further ten private equity hires joined as partner having previously held a more junior title at their old firms.

Goodwin and White & Case both made the most PE hires last year according to Macrae’s research, with each hiring four partners apiece.

White & Case brought over Laura Kayani and Nick Matthew from Ropes & Gray last September, just months after the firm hired Legal 500 high-value PE Hall of Famer Helen Croke from Ropes earlier that summer.

Meanwhile, Goodwin also added a three-lawyer team, with the firm bringing over mid-market PE Hall of Famer Anu Balasubramanian in December, along with partners Jamie Holdoway and Chetan Sheth, all from Paul Hastings.

Others making additions to their PE teams included Clifford Chance, Akin, Dechert, and Addleshaw Goddard, with each firm making three hires, while Sullivan & Cromwell and Freshfields recruited two partners each.

Notably, two of Clifford Chance’s partner hires came from in-house, with the firm bringing over Annie Lewis from Blackstone and Patrick Scott from KKR, at the start of the year.

One area seeing considerable lateral activity is PE real estate, which Legal Business recently highlighted had seen 20 lateral moves in the last 18 months.

Co-office managing partner for Macrae’s London team, Siobhan Lewington, said of the findings: ‘It’s significant that last year was the most active year for private equity lateral hiring in London since we began tracking these moves in 2020.’

‘When we see private equity partner moves almost double year-on-year, it’s clear that the market has become more mobile, driven by exceptional demand,’ she concluded.

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Weil expands in Germany with antitrust heavyweights from White & Case and Latham

Weil, Gotshal & Manges has hired two antitrust partners into its office in Munich from rival US firms.

Ingo Brinker, who is recognised by Legal 500 in the Hall of Fame for antitrust in Germany, joins from White & Case, where he has spent the last two years. Prior to this, he worked for German firm Gleiss Lutz for over 30 years.

Additionally, Niklas Brueggemann, previously counsel at Latham & Watkins, joins Weil as a partner. He first joined Latham in Hamburg in 2017, and rejoined the firm in 2025, after a four and a half year stint at the Directorate-General for Competition at the European Commission in Brussels.

The two additions mark eight partner hires for Weil in Germany in the last six months, including recent hires in the PE space Sebastian Pauls, also from Latham and Kamyar Abrar, who rejoined the firm after six years as co-managing partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher’s German offices.

Commenting on his move, Brinker said: ‘Weil has one of the most dynamic practices in Germany now, and the success of its European antitrust bench is phenomenal. Niklas and I are delighted to be joining.’

The pair will join Weil’s European antirust practice, which works closely with partners across offices in Paris and Brussels.

Co-managing Partner of Weil’s German offices, Britta Grauke, said: ‘Ingo and Niklas are extremely highly regarded partners who advise on bet-the-company matters that require extensive experience and judgment.’

‘They bring heavyweight credentials in merger control and European antitrust litigation, at a time when Germany remains one of the most active jurisdictions in Europe for cartel damages claims and follow-on actions,’ she concluded.

A White & Case spokesperson said: ‘We can confirm that Ingo Brinker is leaving White & Case. We wish him well in the future.’

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Meet the 35 GCs making the grade in first-ever Legal 500 UK Powerlist Hall of Fame

Thirty-five of the UK’s top in-house lawyers have been recognised in Legal 500’s first ever UK GC Powerlist Hall of Fame.

The award recognises the high profile GCs who have been consistently setting the pace in the in-house legal market, resulting in multiple inclusions in Legal 500’s flagship UK Powerlist research, which is published annually.

The new Hall of Fame includes some of the best known UK GCs working across a range of industries, including financial services, private capital, defence and retail.

Financial services is particularly well represented, with more than a quarter of the list sitting within the sector, including HSBC CLO Bob Hoyt, outgoing Barclays GC Stephen Shapiro, global head of services legal at Citi Sharon Blackman and CLO of Lloyds Banking Group, Kate Cheetham.

Big names in the energy/utilities and food industries include BP group GC Michael Sosso, E.ON UK GC Kirin Kalsi, and Compass Group GC Alison Yapp.

GCs at FTSE 100 companies make up 63% of the list, including James Ford at British multinational pharma and biotech company GSK, newly appointed GC at defence giant Rolls Royce, Maria Varsellona, and legal heads at leading UK supermarkets Sainsburys and M&S, Nick Grant and Nick Folland.

Other names to note in the Hall of Fame include Carlyle’s Heather Mitchell, BT’s Sabine Chalmers, Chris Fowler, COO at Rio Tinto and Ed Gelsthorpe of BAE Systems.

Women make up slightly more than half of the list, holding 18 of the 35 places.

Recent work highlights helping those on the list secure their spots include UBS EMEA GC Simon Croxford’s role on the historic merger of UBS and Credit Suisse, brokered by the Swiss government in 2023, and group GC at Vodafone Maaike de Bie’s role steering the legal team through its £15bn merger with mobile network Three, which completed mid-2025.

The Hall of Fame was initially launched at a celebratory dinner at Legal Business’s Enterprise GC event last month, which was sponsored by Lexis Nexis.

The most recent UK GC Powerlist was announced on 9 October 2025.

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