David Stevenson assesses Shearman’s hopes of regaining its potency
‘The work that’s been done over the last few years is bearing fruit. Like a tree blossoming,’ observes Laurence Levy, head of European M&A at Shearman & Sterling. Long-time Shearman watchers have, of course, become familiar with variations on the revival rhetoric that Shearman has used several times before. But has this once celebrated Wall Street name really rediscovered its winning ways?
Firm-wide, the jury is at best still out, but focusing on its London operation it is easier to be upbeat. The firm’s City arm broke the $100m turnover mark in 2010 and has generally been growing at a respectable clip since then, up from $112.6m in 2012 to $134.8m for the 2013 financial year.