Will this year’s Global London report chronicle the high watermark for the Square Mile as a global hub for foreign law firms? The possibility has to be considered with the article 50 notice about to be delivered as I type these words, representing the biggest threat to London’s position since the 1990s’ run-up to the launch of the euro.
As it stands, foreign advisers continued to aggressively invest in London through 2016. The number of London-based lawyers employed at the 50 largest foreign firms, now numbers 6,033, an increase of 22% over the last two years despite a generally subdued UK legal services market. The elimination of King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) from our tables this year understates the growth through the last 12 months but in underlying terms, headcount probably grew at least 4% even allowing for the re-allocation of legacy SJ Berwin lawyers to US rivals. Given the KWM implosion, it was unsurprisingly a record year for partner recruitment, with nearly 200 laterals within the group. The overall pace of growth, however, slowed somewhat on 2015.
Subscriber Access
You must be logged in to view full premium content.
