Legal Business

Global London 2021: Main table

  • Legal Business


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    Global London rank Firm name Date founded Total fee-earners % change on previous yr Total partners English qualified lawyers in office Other qualified lawyers in office Partner promotions in latest round (as % of total London partners) Change in London lawyer headcount 2015-20
    1 Baker McKenzie 1961 517 -6% 126 440 77 8 6% 32%
    2 Latham & Watkins 1990 485 8% 109 411 74 3 3% 56%
    3 Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner 1932 453 -8% 132 440 13 4 3% n/a
    4 White & Case 1971 441 6% 113 394 47 9 8% 5%
    5 Dentons 1788 421 -4% 119 383 38 3 3% 15%
    6 Reed Smith 2001 365 -4% 124 339 26 12 10% 4%
    7 Kirkland & Ellis 1994 353 4% 137 281 72 19 14% 103%
    8 Mayer Brown 1974 279 7% 87 247 32 2 2% 10%
    9 Weil 1996 208 7% 41 183 25 3 7% 30%
    10 Milbank 1979 164 3% 32 131 33 2 6% 55%
    11 Dechert 1972 162 -4% 46 140 22 4 9% 28%
    12 Sidley Austin 1974 153 0% 42 118 35 4 10% 42%
    13 Jones Day 1986 151 -17% 54 149 2 2 4% -32%
    14 Skadden 1988 151 5% 30 118 33 1 3% 21%
    15 Shearman & Sterling 1972 149 1% 32 128 21 0 0% -22%
    16 Squire Patton Boggs 1991 141 -4% 43 135 6 1 4% -15%
    17 Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld 1997 140 4% 46 125 15 0 0% 44%
    18 Goodwin 2011 133 13% 42 115 18 0 0% 329%
    19 Simpson Thacher & Bartlett 1978 132 27% 28 91 41 3 11% 25%
    20 Ropes & Gray 2009 130 6% 23 101 29 0 0% -2%
    21 Debevoise & Plimpton 1989 128 4% 22 91 37 0 0% 16%
    22 K&L Gates 2005 122 -8% 45 116 6 2 4% 3%
    23 Covington 1988 119 8% 28 107 12 1 4% 38%
    24 Paul Hastings 1997 115 0% 31 101 14 0 0% 26%
    25 Cleary Gottlieb 1971 111 -8% 21 98 13 2 2% -5%
    26 Orrick 1998 107 8% 39 99 8 3 8% 32%
    27 Morgan Lewis 1981 95 -9% 41 91 4 2 5% 53%
    28 Morrison & Foerster 1980 95 3% 27 81 14 1 4% 107%
    29 Gibson Dunn 1979 94 2% 29 86 8 0 0% 36%
    30 Proskauer 2007 92 11% 30 84 8 2 7% 80%
    31 Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan 2008 92 3% 23 67 25 2 10% 188%
    32 Cooley 2015 91 -9% 28 89 2 1 4% 38%
    33 Greenberg Traurig 2009 89 0% 30 84 5 0 0% 85%
    34 Fried Frank 1970 79 -5% 20 64 15 0 0% 119%
    35 Willkie Farr & Gallagher 1988 86 12% 25 67 19 2 8% n/a
    36 Vinson & Elkins 1971 78 3% 16 65 13 1 6% 81%
    37 McDermott Will & Emery 1998 74 -1% 30 69 5 5 17% 80%
    38 Sullivan & Cromwell 1972 68 -4% 18 42 26 0 0% -12%
    39 Womble Bond Dickinson 2003 67 6% 24 65 2 0 0% n/a
    40 Brown Rudnick 1997 63 5% 32 63 0 0 0% 26%
    41 WilmerHale 1972 62 -5% 9 23 39 0 0 -18%
    42 Cadwalader 1997 60 2% 20 49 11 1 5% 7%
    43 Davis Polk 1972 58 14% 8 37 21 0 0% 0%
    44 King & Spalding 2003 57 -10% 22 48 9 1 5% 8%
    45 Arnold & Porter 1997 48 -8% 17 41 7 0 0% 9%
    46 Baker Botts 1998 45 0% 19 38 7 1 5% 32%
    47 Armstrong Teasdale 2021 37 n/a 16 37 0 0 0% n/a
    48 Winston & Strawn 2003 35 3% 13 31 4 0 0% n/a
    49 Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath 1983 34 n/a 12 34 0 2 17% n/a
    50 Locke Lord 2012 31 -14% 14 29 2 1 7% -9%

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