Earlier this month, Clyde & Co launched in Texas, the latest step in a two-decades-long journey into North America which has seen it establish a 19-strong network of offices across the US and Canada.
The UK insurance giant’s most recent move, which comes on the back of a steady march of Stateside expansion dating back to 2006, is a merger with Dallas boutique Tillman Batchelor, handing it a debut presence in the state.
Rather than pursuing international expansion via large-scale mergers or a narrow focus on a handful of top cities, Clydes has followed a model closer to that of national US firms, establishing extensive coverage over a wide range of regions through team hires and smaller-scale acquisitions.
The firm first opened in New York and LA in 2006 with the hire of a team of lawyers from US firm Condon & Forsyth. That was followed by San Francisco in 2008 and New Jersey in 2010, before a move into Canada in 2011 via a merger with Nicholl Paskell-Mede.
The expansion continued with Atlanta in 2013 and Miami in 2016, before 2017 saw moves into Chicago and Washington DC with the hire of 10 partners from Troutman Sanders, as well as a relaunch in Los Angeles.
2018 saw the firm take on a sizeable team from collapsing US firm Sedgwick, handing it new presences in Orange County and Kansas City, while the last four years have seen it add additional bases in Denver, Las Vegas and Phoenix in 2021, two more offices in Canada, and more recently Boston in 2023.
The firm now boasts a total of 94 partners and 394 non-partner lawyers across North America – a little over 18% of its partnership and just under 15% of its total lawyers.
And the US expansion is far from finished. ‘We aim to become the pre-eminent provider of legal services to the insurance industry in North America’, North American board chair Eileen King Bower tells Legal Business, adding that the firm has its sights on other Texas markets and, beyond that, the Pacific Northwest.
‘Texas is a very important state for our clients’, says Bower. ‘We’re looking to expand not only in Dallas but into Houston and other areas too. The other area we’re looking at is Washington state, in particular Seattle.’
‘Our clients have matters that need to be handled across states’, Bower explains. ‘Much of the litigation that our clients face is in state courts, and it’s important to our clients to have local counsel in various jurisdictions – people who really understand how things work there.’
Disputes is a key area of focus as the firm continues to grow in North America. ‘We’ve expanded beyond insurance coverage, and in the last year and a half we’ve made a conscious decision to expand our trial and defence capabilities’, said Bower. ‘That’s largely in response to what our clients are saying – they’re telling us that they’re not satisfied with the options that they have in the current market.’
Two of the key figures leading that disputes buildout are Danny Worker, the former Chicago managing partner of Lewis Brisbois, who joined last February and now splits his time between Chicago and Phoenix, and Thomas Maroney, who joined the New York office from Kennedys in April.
The firm’s expansion in the US has been recognised by a steady rise through the Legal 500 US rankings. The firm moved from tier 3 to tier 2 in advice to insurers in 2017, and has been tier 1 in 2019. It has also held tier 2 rankings in both aviation litigation and regulation and shipping litigation and regulation since 2018.
The firm has also steadily increased its number of ranked individuals from just one in 2018 to ten as things stand – one next generation partner, six leading partners, and three Hall of Famers.
Clyde & Co partners ranked in the US Legal 500
Hall of Fame
Andrew Harakas, aviation litigation and regulation, New York
Paul Koepff, advice to insurers, New York
John Woods, shipping litigation and regulation, New York
Leading partners
Eileen King Bower, advice to insurers, Chicago (pictured)
Elizabeth Evans, aviation finance, New York
John Keough, shipping litigation and regulation, New York
Darren McNally, advice to insurers, New Jersey, New York
Kenneth Quinn, aviation litigation and regulation, Washington DC
Kevin Sutherland, aviation litigation and regulation, New York
Next generation partners
Corey Greenwald, shipping litigation and regulation, New York
Clydes has increased its North America revenue by nearly 34% in the last five years, and the region has accounted for around 22% of the firm’s total revenues for at least each of the last five years. During that time the firm’s topline turnover increased by nearly 35%, from £627m in 2019-20 to £845m in 2023-24.
According to Bower, Clydes’ regional boards have significant ‘day-to-day’ autonomy, with regular meetings with global management. ‘North America is considered a growth engine because there’s so much opportunity there’, she said. ‘The insurance industry in the US is just growing and growing. Our clients are growing, they’re expanding their activities in the region, and it makes sense that the firm should focus here and grow with them.’
And, as Clydes grows in North America, lawyers from the region play larger roles in the firm’s global management. ‘We’ve seen leaders come out of North America’, Bower noted. ‘The best example is Carolena Gordon – she’s the first senior partner we’ve had from outside the UK, and the first woman.’
Gordon, who became senior partner in 2021, preceded Bower as chair of the North American board. Bower also identified partner selection committee chair Barbara Almeida and global board member Darren McNally, both in New Jersey, as other examples of North American prominence within the wider firm.
‘It’s a really exciting time’, she said. ‘I’m very pleased with the growth that we’ve experienced in North America, and I’m very confident in our strategy.’