So much ink has been spilled over game-changing developments in recent weeks – namely the partnership vote in favour of the A&O Shearman deal, and Paul Weiss’ assault on the talent pools of the Square Mile – that it can be difficult to find an angle that isn’t hackneyed to within an inch of its life.
Nevertheless, a ring around senior contacts for a different take paid dividends, even if some of the suggestions are more about playing devil’s advocate and mischief-making.
One partner at a US firm in London suggests jumping on the ChatGPT bandwagon to ask it what it ‘thinks’ the strategies of A&O Shearman, and Paul Weiss in London should be – if I really want a different perspective. More of that later.
One law firm leader raises an interesting, and connected, point. ‘There are questions around the compounding effect of Big Law, of creating a monster that is A&O Shearman. Once you grow revenue over a certain amount, none of the individual partners matter. You are just feeding the machine. Do you actually have to be such a big firm to survive?’
The point also plays into what that partner describes as the ‘Greek Tragedy’ going on between Kirkland & Ellis and Paul Weiss. Many market commentators have asserted that Kirkland has become a victim of its own success and that breakneck headcount and revenue growth has come at the price of the entrepreneurial spirit that would have been engendered by building an English law practice from scratch 20 years ago.
It seems likely that Neel Sachdev and Roger Johnson would – as the partners who mattered – have had a certain freedom and sense of autonomy that has gradually diminished as the power base decidedly shifted back to Chicago.
As our annual LB100 report this issue shows (and our Global 100 report in December will undoubtedly show), elite law is starting to feel the pinch, with leaner partnerships looking more attractive right around now. Of course, A&O’s motives hinge on more than just a fear of being left behind Kirkland and Latham on turnover. Cracking the Wall Street piece will be a massive achievement and a stellar legacy for senior partner Wim Dejonghe when he finally hangs up his gloves. Query whether the dream of breaking the US with the creation of an enormous partnership will not be out of date in five or ten years’ time, especially with the exponential growth of tools like generative AI.
Which brings us back to ChatGPT. While conspicuously offering nothing in the way of thought leadership on strategy, the chatbot is still remarkably well informed.
It returns: ‘Paul Weiss has been on an aggressive hiring spree in London, further indicating its expansion strategy in the region. The firm has notably hired legal professionals from other prominent law firms such as Kirkland & Ellis and Linklaters, thereby significantly enhancing its private equity offering in London.’
Amusingly, the machine seems to have swallowed the line that the A&O Shearman merger is all about the clients, and nothing whatsoever to do with turnover.
‘The merger between Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling aims to create a robust global entity leveraging the strengths of both firms to serve clients on a broader scale. The merged entity intends to serve clients globally on their most critical challenges, transactions, and disputes.’
There is more than one way to feed the machine. It will be interesting to see which one will win out.