Legal Business

Global London 2017 – Main table

Global London rank by no. of lawyers Firm name Founded Total fee-earners (% change on previous year) Total partners English qualifed lawyers Other qualified lawyers Partner promotions in latest round (as % of total London partners) Change in London lawyer headcount 2011-16
1 White & Case 1971 448 7% 102 344 104 8 8% 29%
2 Baker McKenzie 1961 389 -1% 95 304 85 5 6% 1%
3 Dentons 1788 385 5% 116 337 48 4 3% N/A
4 Reed Smith 2001 367 5% 112 361 6 5 4% 24%
5 Latham & Watkins 1990 329 6% 76 197 132 2 3% 53%
6 Mayer Brown 1974 245 -3% 86 201 44 2 2% -17%
7 Jones Day 1986 202 -9% 63 135 67 5 8% 28%
8 Shearman & Sterling 1972 191 -1% 37 119 72 0% 68%
9 Kirkland & Ellis 1994 187 7% 69 150 37 6 9% 63%
10 Weil, Gotshal & Manges 1996 174 9% 30 165 9 2 7% 57%
11 Dechert 1972 165 30% 42 92 73 0% 72%
12 Squire Patton Boggs 1991 163 -2% 51 112 51 7 14% N/A
13 Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom 1988 149 0% 31 111 38 2 6% 25%
14 Ropes & Gray 2009 144 8% 34 88 56 2 6% 289%
15 Sidley Austin 1974 134 24% 45 118 16 1 2% 17%
16 K&L Gates 2005 133 3% 46 128 5 1 2% 0%
17 Debevoise & Plimpton 1989 120 9% 18 97 23 2 11% 38%
18 Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton 1971 116 -1% 20 101 15 1 5% 17%
19 Simpson Thacher & Bartlett 1978 116 9% 21 78 38 0% 115%
20 Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy 1979 115 8% 22 103 12 0% 113%
21 Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe 1998 95 17% 29 84 11 1 3% 40%
22 Paul Hastings 1997 93 2% 30 85 8 0% 94%
23 Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld 1997 92 -5% 39 73 19 1 3% 217%
24 Sullivan & Cromwell 1972 85 10% 21 46 39 1 5% 31%
25 Covington & Burling 1988 83 -3% 21 70 13 1 5% 26%
26 Cooley 2015 79 20% 28 72 7 0% N/A
27 Morgan, Lewis & Bockius 1981 79 27% 32 70 9 0% 295%
28 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher 1979 77 12% 24 74 3 1 4% 79%
29 Goodwin Procter 2011 72 132% 21 51 21 1 5% N/A
30 Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr 1972 70 -8% 8 22 48 1 13% 94%
31 Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer 1997 69 N/A 19 59 10 0% N/A
32 Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft 1997 64 14% 16 44 12 2 13% 204%
33 Proskauer Rose 2007 63 24% 21 53 10 0% 271%
34 David Polk & Wardwell 1972 58 7% 9 33 25 1 11% 66%
35 Brown Rudnick 1997 55 10% 30 55 2 7% 49%
36 Vinson & Elkins 1971 54 26% 15 52 2 1 7% 6%
37 Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan 2008 53 66% 19 43 10 1 5% 194%
38 Morrison & Foerster 1980 52 13% 18 50 2 1 6% 8%
39 McDermott Will & Emery 1998 51 24% 24 42 9 1 4% 6%
40 Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson 1970 49 36% 14 42 7 0% 32%
41 King & Spalding 2003 47 -11% 23 42 5 1 4% 124%
42 Greenberg Traurig 2009 47 -2% 19 43 4 2 11% -2%
43 Cravath, Swaine & Moore 1985 40 -7% 4 40 0% 60%
44 Bryan Cave 1982 40 -5% 13 31 9 0% 18%
45 Baker Botts 1998 34 0% 15 30 4 0% N/A
46 Winston & Strawn 2003 34 N/A 13 33 1 0% N/A
47 McGuireWoods 2009 32 -14% 14 28 4 1 7% -37%
48 O’Melveny & Myers 1986 32 10% 7 32 1 14% 16%
49 Locke Lord 2012 31 -9% 12 31 0% N/A
50 Gide Loyrette Nouel 2003 31 -3% 6 16 15 0% 52%

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