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‘We needed more flexibility’ – Georgia Dawson on reshaping Freshfields for the future

‘We are future-proofing our business to meet a transformative time, protecting what defines us, evolving where we need to and ensuring we remain a destination for our global clients and talent,’ Georgia Dawson tells Legal Business, three months into her second five-year term as Freshfields senior partner.

Even before she became the first female senior partner of a magic circle firm back in 2020, it was clear to Dawson that Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (as it was then known) needed to change to secure a position in the global elite.

‘We needed to move more quickly, look at new opportunities, and evolve the firm for the future,’ she recalls. ‘The firm is 280 years old, and it’s been successful over a long period of time, but the question became: what are we, as the current generation of partners, going to do to evolve the firm? What should the priorities be? So we developed a strategy around a few different areas.’

Five years on, the change she has already presided over is far-reaching. From a rebrand that saw the firm drop Bruckhaus and Deringer from its name, to ramping up investment in the US, through to her personal involvement in the firm signing an amicus brief supporting firms targeted by US President Donald Trump’s executive orders – a move which set Freshfields apart within the global top 20 – Dawson has been busy.

‘You have to reward and incentivise the whole machine’

Recently, she has been particularly busy driving through a sweeping overhaul of the firm’s partner compensation system that takes Freshfields further away from traditional lockstep than ever before, in a bid to ensure it remains an attractive destination for the best lawyers.

The overhaul ties in with two of the three core planks of Freshfields’ strategic priorities – empowering its people and growth.

‘What has made us successful and will continue to make us successful is having bright, able people who can pivot,’ says Dawson. ‘We need to hire people who can deal with what now feels like the new normal, whether that’s changes in regulation around AI, or unpredictable government behaviour or conflict. We need to make sure that we’re hiring people who don’t have a fixed mindset and can grow and evolve.’

She is transparent that the firm’s ambitions to hire and to keep the very best talent has required changes to its remuneration structure, with profit per equity partner (which stood at around £2.3m for 2024-25) still some way behind the $5m average for the world’s top 10 firms.

The overhaul, voted through by partners in the autumn, is intended to make it easier for Freshfields to compete for the strongest partners at the top end, while also ensuring it doesn’t lose future stars.

‘You need the firm’s infrastructure to support the strategy,’ explains Dawson. ‘If it doesn’t, you’ve got a misalignment, you’re trying to pull in one direction on the strategy, and your machine just doesn’t keep up.

‘Sticking with something that doesn’t support your strategy doesn’t make sense. The key question for us was: did our then existing system allow us to attract and retain the best partners? If not, what were our options?’

‘We’re doing this to attract and retain all of the talent we have’

With nothing off the table at the discussion stage, the overhaul has been wide-reaching. Partners have voted in a new salaried partner tier that is already making it easier to promote and hire in new partners and, crucially, simplifies the process for the newly named ‘compensation committee’ to move pay for individual partners up or down.

Significantly, the overhaul gives the firm what one partner describes as ‘total flexibility’, removing the notion of a top-of-lockstep hard cap on potential earnings for stars in priority areas like the US or particularly competitive practices such as private capital.

Explaining the motivation for the overhaul, Dawson says: ‘We needed more flexibility than we had. We had a partner consultation that was entirely open, transparent and robust, to talk about a range of different options. We debated it all. We’ve tried to come up with something that’s efficient, fair and where partners have a good sense of the rationale behind the overall approach.’

Although she would not be drawn on the detail, partner profit shares will be assessed based on their contributions across collaboration, leadership and clients. ‘We’re doing this to attract and retain all of the talent that we have. Our partners work with and rely upon a massive group of partners and colleagues, and you have to reward and incentivise the whole machine, otherwise nobody can perform at their best.’

‘We’ve designed it to provide more certainty, clarity of pathway and fair compensation relative to that balanced scorecard contribution.’

Since the new remuneration system has been approved, the firm has seen a spate of partner exits, particularly in Europe, but Dawson, like other partners inside the firm, is confident that it provides the flexibility Freshfields needs to compete.

‘The US was where we needed to create scale’

With remuneration dealt with, the firm can return to focusing on evolving the rest of its business around its strategic priorities.

‘We’re focusing on three pillars of growth, empowerment and efficiency,’ she says . ‘The growth piece is the client and client service piece; empowerment is our people proposition; and efficiency is the firm’s infrastructure, data, technology and innovation.’

While Freshfields no longer releases financial results during the summer reporting season, its LLP accounts for 2024-25 show revenue grew by 6% during the year to £2.25bn, while net profit dipped slightly.

Over the longer term, however, global revenue has increased by more than 40% between 2021 and 2025, with the US – the geography the firm has prioritised most to compete at the highest level globally – seeing revenue soar by 172% to £473.3m over the same period.

‘The US was the region where we needed to create scale and bring in skills that we didn’t have, so that we could create as strong a platform there as we have everywhere else,’ says Dawson. ‘If you go back six years, we had two locations in the US – New York and Washington DC. Today, we have six, and we’ve almost tripled our headcount.’

The firm opened in Boston last year, having already opened in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, alongside a services centre in North Carolina.

Significantly, for a firm that has faced accusations that European partners may not always have been in complete support of the scale of investment in the US, there is now evidence of some client relationships transferring to Europe. Examples include the firm’s German practice last year advising BASF on the sale of its coatings business to Carlyle.

With the transactional side of the business already significantly enhanced through hires such as the 2024 recruitment of Latham private equity partners Neal Reenan and Ian Bushner, and a host of other hires across its now network of offices, the growth priority across the Atlantic will be on the disputes side going forward as it moves to replicate what it has in London in the US.

‘Will there still be growth? Yes, but will it be at the same pace and scale? Possibly not,’ confirms Dawson. ‘Now it’s about building out the bench in particular areas. There’ll be some additions on the transactional side, but I would definitely expect more on the disputes side. We have a large investigations and disputes practice in London and I’d want us to build something similar in the US.’

Growth is also evident in the practices and sectors the firm has put at the heart of its strategy: TMT, life sciences and, of course, private capital. Over the last five years, revenue from the tech sector is up by 231%, private capital is up 71% and life sciences is up 65%. While the firm is aiming for cross-practice work for these clients, it advised on more than $500bn of transactions across its key sectors in 2024-25.

‘From a practice group perspective, we chose a few areas where there is significant demand from clients for legal services on a global basis – to play to our footprint strength. We’ve tried to really double down on technology; while other focus areas include life sciences, as well as private capital,’ she says.

‘We need to learn new approaches and think differently’

Staying competitive requires more than growth, though, and Dawson is clear that the efficiency part of the strategy is increasingly important for firms wanting to boost profitability and remain relevant.

Freshfields was one of a number of firms to make job cuts last year, with up to 19 Manchester paralegal roles impacted in a business services overhaul that is also seeing the firm investing in new technology including AI.

Dawson says of the efficiency drive: ‘We’ve been looking at our business services. How do we run the firm? What are all the systems that we need? And trying to modernise that to make sure we’re best in class. So it’s been a pretty comprehensive overhaul.’

‘[On the technology front] things are changing so quickly. We’re trying not to be too conservative, so we’ve got a whole bunch of pilots of different technology and AI products. We’ve got a partnership with Google so that we can accelerate our learning and collaborate with them, and we have our lab that continues to produce incredible products.’

‘So we’re looking at, how do we further evolve those products? How do we scale them? How do we use them in a way that’s helpful for clients?’

She acknowledges that the impact of AI on in-house legal teams and future demands for external advice is something firms cannot afford to underestimate. It’s one of the reasons Freshfields is part-way through a large-scale client listening exercise looking at expectations around service delivery and pricing.

‘How do we deliver and price things in a way that leaves clients feeling like it was a positive experience because Freshfields was by their side?’ she asks.

‘The legal industry was ripe for disruption 10 years ago. AI is going to disrupt all businesses, including the legal industry,’ she says. ‘I don’t see that disruption has to be a negative though – it’s about how we respond. We are continuing to work on the business model; we’ve been moving away from the hourly rate towards more alternative fee arrangements and fixed fees for the last five years. We need to learn new approaches and think differently.’

‘It’s about accelerating the pace of change’

Speaking to Dawson earlier this month, it’s clear she is aware that the firm’s ability not only to think differently about the market and itself but to implement the changes needed to evolve will be critical for its future success.

As such, she has no plans to rest on her laurels, and her focus for the next five years is very much to build on the strategy she set out back in 2020,

‘It’s about accelerating the pace of change. In some areas, it’s about polishing and refining what we’re doing and fine-tuning; in others, learning from the successes and the mistakes of the last five years,’ she says. ‘I’m a competitive person, I have reasonably high standards and we’re not where I want us to be yet, so we’re going to be pushing on.’

‘We need to make sure that the firm is resilient, sustainable and that people see this as the best possible platform for them,’ she concludes.

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White & Case boosts PEP by 10% as firm pushes towards $5bn revenue goal

White & Case has posted an 8.5% revenue increase for 2025 to reach $3.6bn, as the firm continues to progress toward its target of $5bn by 2028.

Profit per equity partner (PEP) jumped 10% to $4.4m over the year, while revenue per lawyer (RPL) climbed 6% to $1.4m.

While the picture is broadly positive, growth across all three metrics was slightly slower than last year, when RPL rose 10%, revenue grew 12.5%, and PEP surged 27% to pass the $4m mark for the first time.

‘If you take a five-year look, our progress is clear,’ said vice chair of the firm Oliver Brettle (pictured). ‘Global revenue is up 51%, PEP is up 46% and RPL is up 29%, so we’re hopeful that we’re well on our way to achieving our strategic goal of $5bn.’

In London, the firm achieved record revenue, with turnover in the capital climbing to approximately $584m, an increase of 5.5%. Over five years, the increase stands at $187m, or 47%.

UK growth was driven by similar factors as firmwide, said London office executive partner Inigo Esteve, including private capital – an area that the firm has prioritised, setting up a global private capital industry group last summer, led by New York-based global private equity head Oliver Brahmst, and Emily Brown and Gareth Eagles in London.

Notable deals for the London office in the last year included advising the underwriters on Scotland-headquartered FTSE 100 energy company SSE’s £2bn equity placing, and advising Deliveroo on its acquisition by DoorDash, completed last October for £2.9bn.

Brettle said the firm’s strategy consists of three pillars focusing on key areas of growth: ‘US capabilities, running a strong business through greater financial discipline and modernisation, and building a collaboratively cohesive culture.’

The firm’s global presence is key to its strategy, Brettle explained, with half of its revenue last year coming from cross-border matters. ‘We have 43 offices in 29 countries across six continents. We have that reach, and making sure that we realise the value and the benefit of that whole firm is an incredibly important part of our strategy.’

Yesterday, LB revealed that last year the firm made changes to its performance evaluation criteria. Partners are assessed on financial results, client engagement and collaboration.

Towards the end of March, partners will find out how these updated criteria interact with the firm’s partner credit system – revised in October 2024 – to affect their share of the equity.

Last summer, the firm hired Legal 500 Hall of Fame partner Helen Croke from Ropes & Gray, though prominent PE partner Ross Allardice departed to Latham & Watkins soon after.

White & Case also lost a total of eight energy and infrastructure partners around the world to Paul Hastings since George Kazakov and Din Eshanov left the firm in the spring.

However, towards the end of the year the firm picked up tax duo Arun Birla and Jiten Tank from Paul Hastings, where Birla was a former London head.

[email protected]

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RPC leads as UK car park operator NCP goes into administration

RPC has picked up the lead advisory role on the collapse of one of the UK’s largest car park operators.

National Car Parks Limited (NCP), which manages approximately 340 car parks nationally and employs 682 people, has gone into administration, with PwC’s Zelf Hussain, Rachael Wilkinson and Toby Banfield appointed as joint administrators.

RPC is a regular adviser to Japanese-owned NCP and is now advising PwC as administrator. Nigel Collins, corporate partner and head of the Japan desk at the firm, is leading on the matter. Collins is ranked as a leading partner in the Legal 500 M&A: Lower Mid-Market Deals, £100m-£750m for London.

He is a long-term adviser to NCP and has been advising the group on its ongoing restructuring and previously went on secondment to its executive team in 2023.

NCP has been struggling with reduced demand since the COVID-19 pandemic.

PwC’s Hussain said: ‘NCP has faced a challenging trading environment over several years, with changing consumer behaviours impacting volumes, and a high fixed cost-base leading to trading losses.’

He continued: ‘Our priority on appointment is to ensure continuity of service while we undertake a detailed review of the business.’

All parking sites will remain open and staff in their posts as the administrators explore options for the company going forward.

In 2017, the company was sold by the Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund II to Park24, a listed Japanese strategic buyer.

[email protected]

Photo by Sean Nufer on Unsplash.

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CMS promotes 54 to partnership as 13 UK lawyers make the grade

CMS has promoted 54 lawyers to its partnership this year, down slightly from 56 the previous year, with the UK gaining 13 new partners.

The new partners are based in 29 cities across 21 countries around the world, with women making up 52% of the global cohort, up from 48% last year.

The total of 13 new UK partners is down 41% on last year’s equivalent figure of 22, with London gaining six new partners this year, compared with 13 last year.

The new London partners are Ben McParland in corporate and private equity M&A, Jennifer Louch and Ruth Jones in corporate and M&A, Hayley Stevenson in insurance and reinsurance, Michaela Potter in dispute resolution and Alasdair Lamb in TMT.

CMS UK senior partner Charles Currier said: ‘Congratulations to all our new partners. Each has demonstrated a commitment to exceptional client service, cross-border collaboration and a drive to innovate.’

CMS chair Pierre-Sebastien Thill added: ‘CMS’s success is built first and foremost on our people. Each has earned the trust of clients and colleagues alike, exemplifying the quality, ambition and international mindset that define CMS.’

Europe’s share of the total promotions increased, driven by additional promotions in several key regions. Germany saw seven promotions (up from three), while France saw five (up from four). Norway saw the third highest number of promotions of any country in Europe, with four, up from one last year.

CMS’s most recently announced financial results saw the firm break the €2bn mark in global revenue for the 2024 calendar year, off the back of strong performances in disputes, finance and energy work.

The promotions come as CMS UK is gearing up for a change in leadership in April this year. The firm’s managing partner Stephen Millar is set to step into the executive partner role previously held by Duncan Weston, with Adrian Bell, currently co-head of infrastructure, construction and energy disputes and Asia & Middle East managing director, set to take over from Millar.

Millar has held the UK leadership role since May 2016 and led the firm through the tripartite merger with Olswang and Nabarro in 2017.

The new partners are:

UK

  • David Turner, construction, Manchester
  • Ben McParland, corporate/private equity M&A, London
  • Jennifer Louch, corporate/M&A, London
  • Luke Chapman, corporate/M&A, Sheffield
  • Ruth Jones, corporate/M&A, London
  • Michaela Potter, dispute resolution, London
  • Abbie Harley, employment, Edinburgh
  • Charlie Denham, energy and infrastructure, Aberdeen
  • Oliver Ellington, finance, Manchester
  • Hayley Stevenson, insurance and reinsurance group, London
  • Rebecca McGladrigan, real estate, Edinburgh
  • Nicola Insley, real estate – planning, Aberdeen
  • Alasdair Lamb, technology, media and telecommunications, London

Europe

  • Cornelia Kreuth, corporate/M&A, Vienna
  • Wolfgang Hellsberg, banking and finance, Vienna
  • Catherine Matton, real estate, Brussels
  • Youri Musschebroeck, public law, Brussels
  • Anna Tanova, technology, media and telecommunications, Sofia
  • Karmen Sinožić, commercial, data protection, Zagreb
  • Fanny Fabrega-Digby-Smith, tax, Paris
  • Vincent Lorieul, competition and EU, Paris
  • Stéphanie Riou-Bernard, tax, Paris
  • Frédéric Roux, tax, Paris
  • Olivier Teixeira, tax, Paris
  • Artur Baron, corporate/M&A, Duesseldorf
  • Thorsten Hemme, technology, media and communications, Cologne
  • Alexander Hoffmann, banking and finance, insurance, Cologne
  • Berrit Roth-Mingram, corporate/M&A, Frankfurt
  • Jonas Singraven, employment, Stuttgart
  • Anne Waßmuth, banking and finance, insurance, Stuttgart
  • Dominik von Zehmen, corporate/M&A, Frankfurt
  • Péter Bibók, dispute resolution, Budapest
  • Robin Svara, employment, Monaco
  • Jenny Noordermeer, banking and finance, Amsterdam
  • Fleur van Assendelft de Coningh, employment and pensions, Amsterdam
  • Niels Koene, employment and pensions, Amsterdam
  • Christina Elisabeth Lavold, corporate/M&A, Oslo
  • Kristian Aksland, real estate, Stavanger
  • Ida Grøstad, labour and employment, Oslo
  • Linn Cathrine Jøsendal, intellectual property, Stavanger
  • Artur Bednarski, finance/restructuring, Warsaw
  • Agnieszka Starzyńska, life sciences and healthcare, Warsaw
  • Peter Plachy, dispute resolution, Bratislava
  • Eva Ceca, employment, Madrid
  • Jerker Christensen, dispute resolution, construction, Stockholm
  • Maxence Carron, dispute resolution, arbitration, Geneva
  • Yoann Lambert, dispute resolution, Geneva
  • Kateryna Chechulina, finance, Kyiv

South America, Africa, and Asia

  • Fernanda Muniz Borges, labour and employment, São Paulo
  • Karine Evangelista Araújo Oliveira, banking and finance, São Paulo
  • Sandra Chicoma, aviation, Lima
  • Zeus Ombeva, dispute resolution, Nairobi
  • Jacinta Ngumo, corporate and commercial, Nairobi
  • Amy Wen Wei, dispute resolution, Hong Kong

[email protected]

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A&O Shearman, HSF Kramer and E.ON among contenders for Legal 500 ESG Awards

The shortlist for this year’s Legal 500 UK ESG Awards has been unveiled, with A&O Shearman, Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer and Norton Rose Fulbright among the firms securing the most nominations.

The awards, now in their third year, recognise ESG initiatives across the legal profession, spanning private practice, in-house and the Bar, highlighting initiatives covering sustainability and neurodiversity to social mobility and ESG client work.

A&O Shearman leads the field with 10 shortlistings, including a double nomination for disputes counsel Alastair Livesey and senior associate Josh Little, who co‑chair the firm’s London LGBTQ+ network, and a shortlisting in Best Internal Support Network, one of several new categories this year.

The firm is also prominently featured in the practice awards, which cover ESG sectors such as clean energy, sustainable finance, and business and human rights.

HSF Kramer has a total of nine shortlistings, including two categories that are new this year – ESG Client Service Firm of the Year, which recognises the law firms ESG practice that received the highest client service scores in Legal 500 research, and Green Ambassador of the Year – one of two nominations for Silke Goldberg, the firm’s global head of ESG/sustainability.

The Green Ambassador of the Year category will recognise one standout individual drawn from Legal 500’s Green Ambassadors research, which identifies the lawyers leading client work supporting decarbonisation and the green transition.

Womble Bond Dickinson and Norton Rose Fulbright both have seven nominations, with NRF disputes partner Stuart Neely among a six-strong shortlist for ESG Client Partner of the Year, which will recognise the partner with the strongest client endorsement during Legal 500’s 2025 ESG research.

Other firms with multiple nominations include RPC, Linklaters, DLA Piper and Shoosmiths, while in-house contenders include Monzo chief legal officer Stephanie Pagni, Haleon assistant GC, sustainability & ESG Rebecca Danby and E.ON UK general counsel Kirin Kalsi, all of who are in line for ESG: In-house Champion of the Year.

Energy giant E.ON has a total of five nominations, with the company’s legal team also represented across categories including Disability/Neurodiversity: Champion of the Year and Environmental/Sustainability Initiative of the Year.

From the Bar, nominees include Fountain Court’s Philip Ahlquist, Church Court’s Creanna Dodson and Bar Council Chair Barbara Mills KC of 4PB, with Garden Court’s Oscar Davies – the winner of 2024’s LGBTQ+: Champion of the Year award – once again nominated in that category.

The winners will be announced on 30 April at the awards ceremony at InterContinental London Park Lane.

Visit the awards website to view the full shortlist. For sponsorship enquiries and table sales, please contact [email protected].

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White & Case revamps partner assessment as pay decisions loom

White & Case partners are set to learn how changes to performance evaluations will reshape their pay, as the firm moves to better reward top contributors.

A revamp of partner evaluation criteria, introduced late last year, means partners will now be assessed on three areas: financial results; client engagement and collaboration with other partners.

The simplified system replaces a previous framework based on seven criteria.

All three criteria, each of which comprises a number of metrics, are underpinned by partners’ ability to demonstrate that they are ‘living the White & Case values’.

The upcoming remuneration round will also see partners learn how they have been assessed against a revised partner credit system, introduced in October 2024, that is intended to better reward both collaboration and hours spent on client work.

The changes added an ‘execution partner’ category to existing credit criteria including ‘inventory partner’, ‘matter partner’ and ‘origination partner’.

The new execution partner credit will only apply to matters opened since it was introduced, meaning that its initial impact will be gradual.

Partners inside the firm told LB that White & Case’s merit-based pay system remains unchanged. However, as remuneration is reviewed by the firm’s leadership team and compensation committee around March each year, equity partners have yet to learn how the revamp will affect their profit share.

The rejig appears to have been well-received by many partners, with some telling LB that it fairly rewards those putting in the hours and collaborating with colleagues.

One partner said: ‘The changes are long overdue. The new system is a much more sophisticated and fair way of recognising people’s contribution.’

They continued: ‘The focus on collaboration is a really good thing. If you want to have bigger relationships, they have to be multi-partner relationships – and you have to incentivise people to deliver on those.’

Partner profit distributions are dependent on their position on a 27-rung pay scale, with equity share increasing or decreasing based on performance. The higher a partner is on the scale, the bigger the gap between each rung.

Another partner at the firm said of the system: ‘There is no gravitational force pulling you up the ladder. You have to justify every step.’

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‘We expect them to hit the ground running’ – Reed Smith ships up to Boston with hire of 12-strong team

Reed Smith is launching an office in Boston, with a 12-lawyer team featuring partners from seven firms including White & Case, Goodwin and Weil.

The hires are part of a drive by the firm to grow in private equity, M&A, finance and fund formation, with expertise concentrated in key Boston sectors of financial services, funds and life sciences.

The lateral hires include financial services regulatory specialist Grant Butler, who joins from K&L Gates, and Goodwin private equity partner Matthew Hacker.

Two of the hires are from White & Case – funds partner Omar Hemady and financial services regulatory specialist Claudette Druehl, who is stepping up to partnership from a counsel role.

The new additions also include Morrison Foerster finance and digital assets partner Ian Hohmeister, who advises on venture and growth transactions, and McDermott Will & Schulte employment litigator Jim Nicholas.

The firm has also secured the hire of Kevin Sullivan, the former co-chair of Weil’s US private equity practice, who joins as a senior strategic adviser.

‘Our opening in Boston was in response to client demand,’ Reed Smith global managing partner Casey Ryan (pictured) told Legal Business. ‘Clients with whom we have deep and long relationships were asking us when we could be there.’

The firm expects to announce further hires soon, said Ryan, and plans to use the office to build relationships with new clients as well as servicing existing ones.

‘We hired a lot of talented partners with busy practices,’ she said. ‘We expect them to hit the ground running.’

Boston has seen a spate of activity in recent years, with partner hires into top 100 firms doubling between 2022 and 2024.

Firms that opened in the city recently include Freshfields, which hired Latham & Watkins private capital M&A partner Matthew Goulding to launch its office there last February, Paul Hastings, which launched in April 2024 with a pair of PE partners from Sidley, and Simpson Thacher, which followed in May with its hire of Skadden funds partner Kenneth Burdon.

The Massachusetts capital is just one of many US cities seeing more interest from top national and international firms as the consolidation of big law intensifies. But it also has unique appeals, with firms drawn by its prominent private capital and funds industries and its thriving life sciences sector.

For its part, Reed Smith has been in what Ryan calls ‘growth mode,’ with office launches in Atlanta last January, Denver in February, and Riyadh in October. The Boston office will be the firm’s 34th globally, and its 21st in the US.

‘We’re in the middle of a four-year strategic plan, and we’re progressing very well,’ said Ryan, who took the helm of the firm in March 2023, and won re-election for a second term last July. ‘Part of that plan was growth, including the addition of some new offices where we needed them.’

The launch was also the result of the right talent becoming available at the right time, Ryan explained: ‘You have to match the client opportunity with the talent. You can have demand, but if you don’t have the right talent, you won’t be able to launch an office and make a success of it.’

The firm is now aiming to consolidate in its existing markets. In a world of ever-increasing scale, Ryan believes Reed Smith is big enough to compete. ‘We’ve got 34 offices around the globe, and we have a strong presence in key markets,’ she said. ‘We’re focused on making sure we have deep enough benches of talent to do the sophisticated work we’ve been doing for our clients.’

Part of the strategy is operational improvements, with Ryan pointing to increased use of technology as a key area. ‘We’re encouraging our legal and professional staff to use more technology, and we see a high level of uptake on the innovation front,’ she said.

‘There’s so much going on in the legal landscape right now,’ she continued. ‘Firms need to be more nimble than they’ve ever needed to be.’

[email protected]

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Slaughters makes up City trio in streamlined partner promotions round

Slaughter and May office

Slaughter and May has promoted three new lawyers into the firm’s partnership – a 50% decrease the last year, and the smallest cohort since 2019.

Simon Bartle and Mark Gulliford have become partners in the firm’s real estate and projects practice, and Jack Dickie has made partner in competition. The trio have been at the firm 16, 14 and 11 years respectively.

Since 2019, when the firm only made up two partners, each year’s promotion class has seen five or more lawyers promoted, with the largest class in the period elected in 2023, when 10 lawyers joined one of law’s most traditional partnerships.

Last year the firm promoted six new partners across competition, infrastructure, investigations and disputes, corporate, and restructuring and insolvency.

‘I am delighted that we have elected three new partners. They each bring valuable expertise and perspective and will make strong contributions to our clients and the firm,’ Slaughters senior partner Roland Turnill said.

Last year the firm elected M&A partner David Johnson as its second-ever managing partner, with Johnson succeeding Deborah Finkler, who had been in post since 2022, on 1 August.

Johnson was been elected for a standard five-year term, in line with Turnill, who began his five-year term in May 2024.

Slaughters is one of the last firms to stand by the traditional lockstep model of partnership, as competitors modify their locksteps to be better able to win and retain talent in the world’s most competitive legal markets.

The firm remains prestigious, and last year it scored highest with clients for partner quality among any firm, according to client satisfaction data compiled by Legal 500.

Slaughters also rarely sees partner departures, though corporate partner Mark Zerdin did move to Paul Hastings last month, exiting after 23 years at the firm.

Last month, the firm took the lead role on the sell-side as US asset manager Nuveen announced its planned acquisition of Schroders. The deal, worth just shy of £10bn, will see Slaughter and May take £23.5m in fees, with Clifford Chance billing Nuveen’s parent company £14.3m.

Bartle, Gulliford, and Dickie will officially join the partnership from 1 May.

[email protected]

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‘We’re not private equity’ – Burford Capital on the future of private investment in law firms

‘You can invest in a single firm then make acquisitions while streamlining the back office, enhancing the margins and in five years, sell that to a new, larger private equity sponsor. That’s a very traditional approach. And it is no criticism of that approach, but we’re not private equity investors.’

Travis Lenkner (pictured) the chief development officer at Burford Capital, originally a traditional litigation funder, described the firm’s equity investments as ‘passive.’ Allowing lawyers to maintain control is a key part of its pitch.

Burford made its first equity investment in a law firm in 2020, taking a 32% stake in PCB Litigation, which merged with Byrne and Partners a year later, to form PCB Byrne.

‘We’ve been public that it’s an investment that has performed well,’ Lenkner added. The investment is a ‘minority stake,’ Lenkner said – a far cry from Inflexion’s £342m wholesale takeover of DWF in 2023.

Burford retains its original investment in PCB Byrne and receives its returns from being a partner in the alternative business structure (ABS) – the model that allows UK law firms to onboard external capital.

Private investment in law firms has moved up the agenda significantly in recent months, with the key question being when external investment will break in to big law proper. But many have raised concerns, in particular about how PE’s sharp elbows might dig in to law’s traditional culture.

For years, Burford has been pitching its quieter, less eye-catching form of equity investment – and it seems to be gaining traction.

‘Private equity has become a shorthand for all types of investment in law but this doesn’t fully capture the change that is happening,’ Lenkner told Legal Business. Burford believe there is a growing recognition that law, like accountancy, is a business that is trending towards becoming a more traditionally capitalised industry or profession.

‘Candidly, I don’t know why this realisation has taken so long,’ Lenkner said. ‘We view equity investments in law firms as the next step in the financialization of the legal profession.’

‘Five years ago, we weren’t having these conversations’ 

Though external investment in the legal sector in the UK has been possible since 2007, with the first ABC licences issued in 2011, uptake has been slow, and has tended to focus on regional firms that offer consumer facing services, or smaller firms that can be combined.

In Sweden last summer, PE house Axcel rolled six firms together, and has made clear its intention to expand internationally.

‘Magic circle, silver circle and top 25 firms are not talking about this type of consolidation, but they’re all trying to figure out where they sit in an industry that is being rearranged,’ Lenkner explained.

The last 18 months has seen firms ‘right at top of the pyramid’ reaching out to Burford to explore options. ‘These conversations are a new thing,’ Lenkner added. ‘Five years ago we weren’t having these conversations.’

Burford – which is listed on both the London and New York stock exchanges – aims to support the ambitions and strategic goals of existing leadership with capital that remains largely in the background. Burford invests capital from its balance sheet, meaning the firm is not required to wind up investment or exit at a set date.

Lenkner is open about the fact that many of the calls he fields from senior partners at major firms are exploratory, as firm leaders fulfil their ‘fiduciary obligation’ to understand the options on offer in the market.

Though many firms at the top are well capitalised businesses, the traditional partnership structure makes it difficult to enact the ‘enterprise thinking that is common for corporate,’ whether this relates to investment in new technology or geographic expansion.

‘Executive committees of firms are having “buy-versus-build” conversations about tech and similar things, but to the extent those have capital requirements attached to them, then you’re back to a conversation of how to finance it,’ Lenkner said. ‘I think if you’re forward thinking, or maybe just current thinking, equity is a part of that discussion.’

Towards the end of 2025, Cohen & Gresser announced that it was using the investment bank KBW Stifel to explore selling a stake in its business to investors, and McDermott Will & Schulte expressed its openness to explore taking private investment.

However, McDermott chairman Ira Coleman stressed that any such talks were exploratory and speculative.

Similarly, Lenkner doesn’t believe big law’s take up of external investment is going to happen overnight. ‘I don’t think these firms will necessarily transact tomorrow.’ he said, ‘but that doesn’t mean that one or two won’t.’

But firms are beginning to explore the idea, and Burford will remain patient. ‘I do think it is the future,’ Lenkner said. ‘We are at the point in the market development where the talk outpaces action, but that is healthy and good.’

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Addleshaws partners approve plan to extend top of pay ladder to £3m

Partners at Addleshaw Goddard have voted ‘overwhelmingly’ to extend the top of the firm’s partner pay ladder, in a change that will allow top earners to receive close to £3m a year.

The move comes after LB reported last December that the firm was exploring how to better reward star partners and recognise individual performance.

The firm operates a modified lockstep compensation system with partners paid according to their number of points. Following a partner vote, the top end of the points ladder has now been extended by one third.

With the firm’s most recent LLP accounts showing that its highest paid partner received £2.16m last year, the change means that partners at the top of the lockstep can now receive pay of around £3m.

The change comes less than 18 months into the firm’s AG2030 strategy – an ambitious plan for the firm outlined by managing partner Andrew Johnston (pictured) when he won an uncontested election to become the firm’s next managing partner in November 2023.

Under the strategy, the firm’s headline goal is to double revenue to £1bn by 2030.

In a statement, Johnston said: ‘We are making strong progress delivering on our AG2030 strategy, with real momentum behind our financial performance, international expansion and ability to build and retain exceptional client relationships. It is, therefore, important that we now futureproof our ability to both retain and attract the highest quality partner talent across our markets.’

‘By stretching the upper end of our equity ladder we are creating headroom to reward those partners who deliver the highest levels of performance and who are making a very material contribution to our business. We are making AG more competitive across all of our markets.

‘By moving the dial on partner compensation we are sending a clear signal of our ambition. This is about ensuring we can compete toe-to-toe on remuneration and meet the long-term expectations of our highest performing partners and lateral hires as we drive forward our AG2030 strategy,’ he concluded.

The firm’s results last summer showed five consecutive years of double-digit revenue growth, with turnover up to £550.9m – enough to see it enter LB‘s Global 100 for the first time.

In conversation with LB this January, Johnston maintained that a US merger is not part of his plan for Addleshaws, setting the firm apart from a spate of recent transatlantic tie-ups.

But the firm has not shied away from investment. It moved into a new London headquarters at 41 Lothbury last year, as well as moving into new offices in Dublin and Glasgow, moves which saw the firm increase its spend on building improvements, office equipment, and refurbishments by 14% year on year, according to its LLP accounts.

Addleshaws has also pursued international expansion, notably acquiring Linklaters’ office in Warsaw, in a deal that completed last April which saw it establish a presence in Central and Eastern Europe for the first time.

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Goodwin UK revenue up 13% in second consecutive year of double-digit growth

Goodwin‘s UK revenue has seen a second consecutive year of double-digit growth, with turnover climbing by 12.7% to £226.4m, as the firm continues to focus its UK offering on transactional work in its core sectors.

Growth was down slightly from last year’s increase of 15.2%, but up significantly on the 5.2% recorded in calendar year 2023 and the 2.8% in 2022.

Since 2021, when the firm posted £161.3m, Goodwin has increased its UK revenue by just over 40%.

‘We’re doubling down on private equity, tech, life sciences, real estate, healthcare and investment funds and each of those industry sectors are well represented here in the UK,‘ said Ajay Pathak, a private equity partner and co-chair of the London office.

During 2025, the firm welcomed ten new lateral partners into its London office, notably including a three-partner PE team from Paul Hastings in December. The team was led by Anu Balasubramanian, a Legal 500 Hall of Famer for mid-market PE deals, who joined Goodwin as its chair of European PE.

Other hires included Travers Smith leveraged finance head Matthew Ayre and Kirkland & Ellis PE partner Tom Roberts, who both joined in July, and most recently patent partner Colm Murphy, who joined from Cooley at the start of this year.

‘It’s clear that the transactional parts of the practice – private equity, life sciences, tech and real estate – are driving lots of opportunities for those complex mandates,’ said David Mardle, Pathak’s fellow co-chair.

London is currently the firm’s third largest office by headcount, beyond New York and Boston, ranked 12th in last year’s Global London table with 227 lawyers and 68 partners.

Goodwin also maintains an office in Cambridge, with Mardle being one of four partners who split their time between London and Cambridge.

‘In recent years we’ve bolstered our secondary capabilities, our private funds capabilities, and we’ll continue to look at those areas where we feel we can meaningfully bring on board laterals,’ Pathak said.

‘We’re trying to be disciplined in how we grow the practice. It’s not about just growing headcount. It’s about creating an environment where we can do more complex, more broader scope mandates, which drive up productivity,’ Mardle added.

Globally, the firm’s revenue hit $2.7bn after 11.7% year-on-year growth. Net income rose 16.6%, and profit per equity partner climbed 17% from $3.62m to $4.24m, crossing the $4m mark for the first time.

These latest results are for the calendar year 2025-26, which the firm reports in-line with the rest of the market, despite its financial year running for the 12 months to 30 September. LB reported these results in October.

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In-house moves: Finance & Leasing Association hires first GC, as Slaughters EU fin reg head leaves for Barclays

Former KPMG UK general counsel Jeremy Barton (pictured) has been appointed as GC of the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) – the first to hold the title at the trade association.

Barton stepped down from his role at KPMG at the end of 2023. He has extensive in-house experience, particularly in the consulting space, having earlier held positions at The Boston Consulting Group, Ernst & Young Global and Andersen Global.

The role is new to the FLA, a UK-based trade body for the asset, consumer, and motor finance sectors, and has been implemented to strengthen its legal, regulatory, and governance capabilities.

‘We’re pleased to welcome Jeremy Barton as our new General Counsel,’ said FLA CEO Shanika Amarasekara MBE. ‘His extensive experience across professional services and his deep understanding of governance and regulatory issues make him an outstanding addition to the team. Jeremy’s insight and steady judgment will be invaluable as we support our members through a rapidly evolving landscape.’

Barton added: ‘I am delighted to be joining the FLA at such a pivotal moment for the consumer, motor and asset finance sector. The FLA plays an important role in shaping policy, supporting high standards, and representing the industry’s voice. I look forward to working with members and stakeholders to help the sector respond confidently and constructively to regulatory change.’

In Paris, Slaughter and May’s head of EU financial regulation Sabine Dittrich has joined Barclays as managing director, head of government and regulatory policy and relations, Europe.

Dittrich spent the last three years as head of EU financial regulation at the firm in London, where she was a senior counsel, leaving for Barclays in January.

Before that, she spent 11 years at Swiss bank UBS in a range of senior legal roles across regulatory intelligence, EU public policy, and wealth management.

Elsewhere in London, defence tech startup UFORCE has appointed Tom Dallas McSorley as general counsel.

McSorley has deep experience in the sector, having spent the last two and a half years at NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), a NATO organisation established in 2022 to support developers of innovative dual-use civilian and military technologies across the alliance.

McSorley began his career at Arnold & Porter in Washington DC, and previously held in-house positions at Elon Musk’s SpaceX and AI and machine learning defence developer Rebellion Defense.

Also in the UK, Shazadi Stinton has joined Trustpilot as chief trust officer after four years at FTSE 250 money saving platform MONY Group, formerly MoneySuperMarket Group, where she held the position of group GC.

Before joining MONY Group, Stinton worked at water company Severn Trent for 13 years, where she held a number of senior in-house legal roles. In her new role at TrustPilot, she will be responsible for content integrity, fraud prevention, and legal and governance frameworks.

Meanwhile, insurance group Howden has hired Christopher Dalrymple as group chief legal officer from global (re)insurance company Alleghany Corporation.

Dalrymple spent over two decades at Alleghany in a number of senior legal roles, including GC, and remained in position when the company was acquired by Berkshire Hathaway in 2022. Dalrymple began his career at now-defunct New York-headquartered firm Dewey Ballantine.

Howden group chief operating officer David Shalder said: ‘After a long and careful search, I am delighted that in Chris we have found an incredibly well-respected legal leader with sharp commercial acumen, deep insurance and reinsurance experience and a proven track record of leading through transformation and growth, including taking companies public. I’m very much looking forward to working with him as we continue to build Howden and continue our growth trajectory.’

Finally, US retail giant Walmart has appointed Erin Nealy Cox as its next executive vice president of global governance, chief legal officer, and corporate secretary.

Cox spent the last four years at Kirkland & Ellis, where she was a partner in the government, regulatory and internal investigations practice group.

She brings extensive experience across government and private practice, having served as the United States attorney for the Northern District of Texas between 2017 and 2021, and previously as assistant US attorney for the Northern District of Texas between 1999 and 2008.

‘To lead Global Governance for a company of our scale and complexity, you need a leader who has thrived in the most demanding environments,’ said Walmart president and CEO John Furnier. ‘Erin is exactly that leader.’

He continued: ‘She brings a rare combination of legal strategy and operational rigor that will be essential as we continue to navigate the new era of retail, while staying true to our purpose of helping people save money and live better.’

Cox succeeds Rachel Brand, who spent nearly eight years as CLO before stepping down in January, and now serves on the boards of both Indian digital payments company PhonePe and Walmart de México y Centroamérica.

Cox will begin her new role on 13 April of this year.

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Macfarlanes kicks off UK firm partner promotions with smallest round since 2020

Sebastian Prichard Jones

Macfarlanes has become the first of the major UK firms to announce its partner promotions this year, with four new partners in London – its smallest round in six years.

The four new partners are Alex Evans in disputes, Hannah Kalveks in private client, Ryan Moore in finance, and Kirti Tiwari-Mehta in employment. Their promotions are effective from 1 April.

‘We continue to see exciting opportunities for growth right across our practice areas, and I am delighted to welcome our new partners,’ said senior partner Sebastian Prichard Jones (pictured). ‘They come from a combination of areas of traditional strength and more recent growth, and I am confident that our new partners will the drive the business forward in the future.’

The number of promotions is down to nearly half of last year’s, when Macfarlanes made up nine partners in the City in its largest round since 2019.

This year saw the firm promote its smallest number of new partners since 2020, when it made up just two new partners.

Known for its cautious approach to overseas expansion, Macfarlanes’ London office remains by far its largest, with its only other base, in Brussels, launched in 2017 with three partners from King & Wood Mallesons.

However, this year the UK firm will open a representative office in New York, in a move to bring it closer to US private capital and private wealth markets.

The move comes at a time of transition, with senior partner Jones due to step down when his term ends on 31 March. He will be succeeded by Damien Crossley, head of the firm’s tax practice.

Macfarlanes has continued to post strong financial results, with double-digit revenue growth last year bringing its turnover to £371.4m, while profit per equity partner crossed the £3m mark for the first time, with an increase of nearly 9% to operating profit.

It has also been involved on a number of high-profile deals already this year, advising European TV producer Banijay Group on its combination with Traitors producer All3Media earlier this month, and advising longstanding wealth management client Evelyn Partners on its £2.7bn acquisition by NatWest, announced last month.

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Cooley London revenue jumps 17% to break £100m

Cooley‘s London revenue has crossed the £100m mark for the first time, in a record result for the US firm’s City office.

Revenue in the capital grew 16.7% year-on-year, from $94.5m last year to $110.3m.

‘2025 was a transformational year for Cooley in London,’ said London co-managing partner Claire Keast-Butler (pictured right). ‘This included the strategic expansion of our emerging companies and venture capital practice, which makes it the City’s go-to destination in the space. The team had a stellar year, working on some of Europe’s landmark venture deals.’

Her fellow London co-managing partner James Maton (pictured left) added: ‘The UK is Europe’s leading destination for innovative and high growth life sciences and technology companies, and their investors.’

Since the office launched in 2015 its headcount has almost doubled, with 103 lawyers in last year’s Global London table, including 35 partners.

Last year saw the firm make two lateral hires in London, bringing over tech M&A partner Jonathan Cohen from Ashurst in July, and financial services regulatory partner Charlotte Witherington from Taylor Wessing in November.

Globally, the firm’s revenue grew 10.3% to £2.4bn – a new record – while profit per equity partner climbed 18.3% to $4.57m. Revenue per lawyer hit $1.8m after 11.5% growth year-on-year.

Over the year, partners from Cooley’s London office advised on multiple $1bn-plus M&A deals in the tech and life sciences space, including AstraZeneca’s acquisition of cancer therapy company EsoBiotec, announced in March with a total consideration of up to $1bn.

In 2024, Cooley hired three partners in London – Angus Miln, Ali Ramadan, and Helen Pantelides, from Taylor Wessing, Goodwin and White & Case respectively – into its emerging companies and venture capital practice, a core practice for the office. The group now stands at eight partners following the promotions of Ella Donegan this year and Eric Davison last year.

Rita Sobral and Edward Turtle also made partner this year in the capital, with the former practising in M&A and the latter in product compliance and litigation.

Cooley won life sciences team of the year at the 2025 Legal Business awards for its work advising biopharmaceutical company Autolus Therapeutics on its collaboration with BioNTech, with a cross-border team across the firm’s offices in the US and London.

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‘Complete integration of strategy and leadership’ – DLA Piper’s leaders on why they’re ditching the verein and going global

‘We’re trying to realise our untapped potential,’ says DLA Piper’s co-CEO and international managing partner Charles Severs (pictured right) as he frames the rationale behind the sweeping governance overhaul that is set to take the transatlantic firm closer to global integration than ever before.

Subject to partner approval, the firm is set to dissolve its long-standing Swiss verein structure and introduce a new global holding entity and governance team that will sit above its existing US and International LLPs. Severs and his fellow co-CEO Frank Ryan (pictured left) will serve as global co-CEOs, with Ryan additionally serving as global chair, and the firm will also move to align partner compensation and incentive schemes.

If approved, the overhaul will take effect from 1 May, with the firm also moving to a US calendar year-end from 1 January 2027. At least 75% of the international partnership and a weighted 66% of the US partnership must vote in favour of the overhaul, with the vote set to run over two weeks in April.

Talking to LB about the changes, Severs said that while the firm has already built a powerful international brand and client base, it has lacked the global alignment needed to fully capitalise on its scale.

‘We’ve built a global brand, built great clients and done great work but we haven’t done everything that we could have. Things like a single unified leadership team, or a compensation system that incentivizes across the whole firm for global behaviours. If we can drive quick decision-making and align incentives, then the opportunity for a firm like ours, compared to the mergers happening at the moment, is significant.’

New-York based Ryan said that having a global governance structure with leaders from across the business will ensure DLA operates more cohesively going forward.

‘This is a complete integration of strategy, of direction, of leadership. What’s important is that the roles we are creating are global roles. It won’t be each side of the institution managing its own business and then getting together, which is what the verein was. We had two businesses that came together effectively at times but they weren’t constantly looking at global opportunities through a single lens. And we’re going to get a chance to do that now. We’re optimistic about what that will yield.’

What won’t be happening as part of this overhaul is a single global profit pool, although the pair do not rule this out in the future. It will, however, usher in a new partner compensation and incentives model that will bring international partners closer to the system already in use in the US.

Severs had been considering compensation for the international partnership for months and had spent time looking at the system already in place in the US before the latest plans were announced to partners. A full consultation with partners on changes to partner credits will take place later this year.

‘There are certain things that the US currently do in terms of the comp process – the speed of it, the way they do a full review every two years – that we liked,’ he said. ‘I think where we’ll end up is a hybrid; both comp systems will change but it will be closer to the current US system than ours.’

‘We know the legal market isn’t standing still, but we believe that we can absolutely set ourselves apart’

Both Severs and Ryan are keen to stress that the new system will make it easier to stay competitive as well as to reward collaborative behaviour.

‘It’s going to be fairer, and it’s going to be more transparent, and it’s going to be simpler,’ said Severs.

Ryan continued: ‘We will have a comp system that rewards collaborative behaviour, no matter where that is around the world. It is designed to recruit and to retain the best talent in the world. One of the core things that we need to do is get people out of silos working together. It’s critical. And so your system, your compensation system, must reward people who do that. Must reward people who work together, who collaborate, who are entrepreneurial, but also bring others in. That’s the system we’re going to design. That’s the behaviour we’re going to reward.’

The proposed governance model would also formalise a global leadership team combining senior figures from both sides of the business. Under the plan, other members of the leadership group would include US vice chairs Loren Brown and John Gilluly, global managing partner Rick Chesley, deputy managing partner Sandra Wallace in Birmingham, and managing director for clients Ben Parameswaran in Hamburg.

Severs said that having a single leadership team focused on the interests of the entire firm would make it easier to act decisively, acknowledging that the the firm has not always been as joined up as it could have. ‘Having a single management team, making decisions for the benefit of the global firm will make it easier to do the right thing,’ he said.

In addition to greater alignment on strategy the firm will also be able to make investments on a global basis.

‘We will be aligned on investments and you’ll start to see us investing in talent on a global basis for the first time,’ said Severs. ‘It will show what we can achieve and the attractiveness of our platform to global talent. We’ll be creating investment pools for strategic investment in say talent or technology. I think one of the bellwethers for law firms in this world is, are you a destination for talent?’

While some international firms have been reconsidering the extent of their global expansion, Ryan said that DLA has no intention of retreating from its scale, or closing offices.

‘Our global reach and capabilities are a significant advantage to our clients,’ he said. ‘Having deep, deep, domestic expertise in this world is critical to being able to serve clients in this more fractured world, as globalisation is under pressure. We don’t think anyone’s positioned like we are to do that.’

Severs agrees, arguing that the overhaul should make it easier for the firm to succeed in an increasingly competitive legal market.

‘By ensuring that people are engaged and incentivised for their global performance we think our ability to do more work for existing clients and to get new clients and new work is accelerated. The reality is we know the legal market isn’t standing still but we believe that we can absolutely set ourselves apart, even in a market as fast moving as this, and that is exciting.’

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The ‘football managers’ of the legal world – why real estate PE partners are in high demand

Real estate finance transaction private equity

Over the past 18 months, around 20 real estate private equity and real estate finance partners have switched firms in London.

The lateral moves come as firms bulk up their PE offerings in the City to capitalise on increasing investment in real estate assets by buyout houses.

Latham & Watkins has made the biggest play for talent in the space, adding a trio of finance partners from A&O Shearman earlier this year, including real estate finance partners David Oppenheimer and David Varne as well as high yield specialist Lucy Oddy.

The hiring, which comes as the firm also saw the departure of real estate finance partner Jeremy Trinder to Sidley in London earlier this year, complements its recruitment of real estate PE partner Jeremy Kenley last November from Gibson Dunn.

Explaining the motivation for his move Kenley said the decision made sense because of: ‘The natural alignment between Latham’s strength in private capital and my work for sponsors in private equity real estate.’

Kem Ihenacho, a member of Latham’s executive committee, explained the push to build capacity around real assets: ‘It’s a growing market. For a long time people just talked about private equity, but it’s much broader than that – infrastructure, growth equity, real estate, distressed assets, hybrid capital, and so on. There are so many elements to it.’

‘What we’ve been doing both in Europe and globally is investing in the talent with the right relationships and experience to capture a significant and increasing share of that market,’ he said.

Supply and demand

Latham is certainly not alone in its big play for talent. Other firms bulking up to meet demand for real estate experience include Hogan Lovells, which recruited former Paul Hastings partners Michael James and Edward Meadowcroft in September 2025, and Mayer Brown, which this year added Taylor Wessing real estate finance partners Mark Rajenbach and Victoria Butcher.

Meanwhile, Freshfields added David Seymour and Will Bryant from Ropes & Gray in July last year.

Speaking to Legal Business about the increase in demand, Seymour said: ‘Amongst the leading City firms, there has been competition for talent. This is because it requires a fairly rare skillset of someone who sits between real estate and private equity, and understands the asset class across Europe and M&A.’

David Evans, who joined Fried Frank from Goodwin last September, agreed, saying: ‘The real estate-private equity cadre is still quite skinny. It’s like football managers – there’s only a limited pool of folks who can credibly do the job.’

Growth beyond London

Stephen Nicolas, who moved from Paul Hastings to Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton last October, said the trend to invest in real estate goes beyond private equity.

‘I don’t think the trend is specific to PE,’ Nicolas said.

‘I think there are various market participants, all of whom have a different view on returns, risks and investment profile, and it takes all of these different views to make the market. If the trend was solely PE driven I think the market runs the risk of becoming stagnant,’ he continued.

Noting an international demand for real estate expertise he said: ‘From my perspective it is a global trend – there are incredibly active markets around Europe and often investors chasing returns will head into Europe and beyond to achieve these.’

Siobhán Lewington, co-office managing partner at legal recruitment firm Macrae, added: ‘We have seen more interest from US law firms in investing in partners focusing on ‘real assets’ in London. There has been an increase in lateral partner movement in this area over the last six months and it’s driven by firms wanting to provide real estate capability for their private equity clients.’

A lasting trend?

Despite the intense competition for talent, firms are not yet finished with expansion plans.

On Latham’s future growth, Ihenacho said: ‘We’re not complacent at all. This is an incredibly competitive market. We’re very proud of the team we’ve built, and we will continue to grow our practice.’

Fried Frank’s Evans concurred, noting that one reason for joining the firm was the opportunity to grow the real estate PE team further in Europe.

‘Fried Frank has a market leading real estate practice in New York. Part of the appeal was to have a ready-made platform with a strong reputation in the corporate real estate space. I want to help grow a real estate practice in London that mimics its New York strengths.’

For Seymour, this is a smart move. ‘For firms that focus on private capital, having a strong bench in real estate is important to deliver what clients need, particularly given the increase in the complexity and cross border nature of transactions in the sector.’

Real estate finance and PE partner moves in London, 2025-present

Name New firm Old firm Date of move
Victoria Butcher Mayer Brown Taylor Wessing February 2026
Mark Rajbenbach Mayer Brown Taylor Wessing February 2026
Lisa Seifman Cahill White & Case February 2026
Jeremy Trinder Sidley Austin Latham & Watkins January 2026
David Oppenheimer Latham & Watkins A&O Shearman January 2026
David Varne Latham & Watkins A&O Shearman January 2026
Jeremy Kenley Latham & Watkins Gibson Dunn November 2025
Stephen Nicolas Cleary Paul Hastings October 2025
David Evans Fried Frank Goodwin September 2025
Michael James Hogan Lovells Paul Hastings September 2025
Owen Jones McDermott Tristan Capital Partners September 2025
Richard Semple Winston & Strawn Goodwin September 2025
Sudhir Nair DLA Piper Mayer Brown August 2025
Will Bryant Freshfields Ropes & Gray July 2025
David Seymour Freshfields Ropes & Gray July 2025
Mark Manson-Bahr Gibson Dunn A&O Shearman June 2025
Kevin Gilroy Akin King & Spalding February 2025
Aparna Sehgal Winston & Strawn Dechert February 2025
Danielle Hirsch Simmons & Simmons Morrison Foerster January 2025

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Dentons CEO sets out plan to take the firm from ‘pre-teen’ to ‘young adult’

When Dentons announced more than a year ago that EY’s Kate Barton (pictured) would take over from Elliott Portnoy as global chief executive it marked the end of an era for the firm that still brands itself ‘the world’s largest global law firm’.

A highly visible leader, founding CEO Portnoy had held his role since the 2013 three-way merger between SNR Dentons, Salans and Fraser Milner Casgrain that created Dentons in its ultra-expansive global form. Along with founding chair Joe Andrew, he shepherded the firm through more than a decade of expansion, including the ill-fated union with Dacheng that ended in summer 2023.

Now, just over a year since Barton took the helm, Dentons is ready to move to the next stage of its development – to shift from what Barton calls ‘a pre-teen firm’ to ‘young adulthood’.

Leveraging global reach

Barton’s vision for Dentons is broad: ‘We want to be famous for global transactions, global advisory services, and global disputes,’ she says. ‘We want to not only be the world’s largest law firm in terms of countries covered – we want to dominate across those three areas.’

To achieve this, the firm has adopted a new sector strategy focused on seven key industries:

  • Consumer products and services
  • Energy and resources (split into energy and mining)
  • Financial
  • Industrials, transportation and infrastructure
  • Life sciences and healthcare
  • Technology, media and communications
  • Real estate

‘You can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. We have 33 more countries than the next nearest law firm. That is a real differentiator’

Earlier this year, Dentons appointed global leads for each of these sectors, with the positions spread across the firm’s network of offices around the world.

Istanbul partner Doğan Eymirlioğlu leads consumer products and services, with Salt Lake City-based Stephanie Regenold and Santiago-based José Ignacio Morán leading the energy and mining arms of energy and resources, respectively.

New York-based capital markets regulatory team head Matt Yoon leads the financial sector, while industrials, transportation and infrastructure is headed up by Montréal-based partner Ilan Dunsky.

Jean-Marc Grosperrin in Paris leads life sciences and healthcare, and Washington DC-based US privacy and cybersecurity team lead Todd Daubert leads TMT.

Finally, the sector lead for real estate is London partner Alex Coulter.

The distribution of the global sector leaders reflects Barton’s aim for Dentons to capitalise on its scale.

Barton explains: ‘You can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. We have 33 more countries than the next nearest law firm. That is a real differentiator. Before we disrupt that strength, I want to make sure we press that advantage.’

She does not rule out further expansion over her term – last March the firm announced a tie-up with Thailand’s Pisut & Partners, and Barton points to Japan as another market in which the firm would like to establish a presence.

As a verein, Dentons has a decentralised structure, with high levels of independence across different regions. It is an approach that some argue can cause friction, with some verein firms even needing to cut internal deals to coordinate client service.

But while some integration of Dentons’ existing operations may be on the longer-term agenda, Barton argues that her firm is already more connected than some realise.

‘We’re more integrated than people think,’ she says. ‘We have the joy of having all our European operations in a single partnership, and the UK, Ireland and the Middle East (UKIME) in another. We didn’t have that at the big four. We had region structures, but underneath it, France paid France and Italy paid Italy.’

Unique experience

Barton’s move from Big Four professional services to head a large law firm is an unusual one. She spent nearly four decades at EY, most recently as global vice chair of Tax, Law and People Advisory Services, with a seat on the global executive board.

As her comment on Dentons’ integration suggests, her experience gives her a unique perspective.

‘I’m very familiar with the playbook of running a large globalised business, managing clients, operations, profit pools, and member pools’, she says. ‘But I don’t want to presuppose that what worked for a Big Four firm is going to work for a law firm. I’ve seen what a more mature organisation can accomplish, but the key is making it work for Dentons.’

‘Leaders lead at the right time. Elliott and Joe were perfect to get this off the ground’

This summarises Barton’s approach to her leadership: build on what makes Dentons unique, while looking for opportunities to move it forward.

‘I’m very grateful to both Elliott and Joe,’ she says. ‘I want to commend them for the foresight of the concept of Dentons that I now get to take to the next level.

‘I think leaders lead at the right time. Elliott and Joe were perfect to get this off the ground and I know I have their unwavering support.’

Dentons – key stats

Total revenue: $2.75bn

Total partners: 2,145

Profit per equity partner (PEP): $906k

Number of offices: 172

Number of offices taken from the Dentons website. All other figures taken from the 2025 Global 100 table.

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Revolving doors: Sidley raids Latham again as Fried Frank taps Kirkland for latest London hire

Sidley Austin has hired from Latham & Watkins again, as it brings over the firm’s former co-head of UK equity capital markets, James Inness.

After over 13 years at Latham, Inness will join former colleagues David Stewart and Vladimir Mikhailovsky, who both moved to Sidley’s London office last year.

More recently, Sidley also recruited Latham’s global co-chair of real estate Jeremy Trinder.

‘We are excited to have James join our growing London cross border capital markets offering – he is a stand out UK equity capital markets lawyer known to us and many of our partners and has a strong client following,’ said Sidley management committee chair Yvette Ostolaza.

‘Adding another strong equity capital markets partner in London was a strategic priority for the firm – we have significantly enhanced our capital markets practice and offering to clients following a number of other recent strategic hires,’ she continued.

Elsewhere in the City, Fried Frank hired M&A partner Rhett McPhie from Kirkland & Ellis, where he has spent the last five years. He joins alongside PE partner Nathan Pusey, who has moved to the firm from Morgan Lewis in New York.

Fried Frank managing partner and M&A and PE practice cohead Steven Epstein said of McPhie and Pusey’s hires: ‘Their arrival advances a strategic growth priority by continuing to deepen our asset management M&A capabilities to support the expanding needs of our client base.’

Also making moves this week was Gowling WLG, which has hired Guy Stevenson from Orrick to head its London financial services regulation team.

Stevenson, who has particular experience advising clients on regulatory authorisation for new business models and on launching and scaling their UK operations, joins after four years at Orrick, where he was a counsel.

Meanwhile, Kirkland & Ellis has also made moves in Europe, becoming the latest firm to bulk up its PE offering on the continent with its hire of Sebastian Heim.

Based across Munich and London, Heim will join Kirkland from Millbank, where he began his career 15 years ago. He is recognised by Legal 500 as a next-generation partner for PE transactions in Germany.

A number of US-headquartered firms have bulked up their European PE teams in recent months, with Latham recruiting a four-partner team from Freshfields last December and following up with a clutch of hires from Clifford Chance last month, Proskauer hiring a trio of partners from Hogan Lovells in Paris, and Weil bringing over Willkie’s Germany co-managing partner Kamyar Abrar.

Back in London, Taylor Wessing has expanded with three recent hires, with the addition of DLA Piper real estate tax partner Gemma Grunewald, Travers competition lawyer Stephen Whitfield and IP partner Henry Priestley, formerly of Russells. 

The hires mark the second, third and fourth partners to join Taylor Wessing following its decision to merge with Winston & Strawn, as RPC partner Jeremy Drew also joined the firm’s IP practice last month.

In the Middle East, Gibson Dunn has hired former Linklaters Saudi Arabia managing partner Waleed Rasrommani as a corporate and M&A partner.

Back in London DLA Piper has also made hires, as it brings in private equity partner Markjan van Schaardenburgh from Ashurst, as well as finance specialist Mark Brown, who left Linklaters in 2023 before taking a career break, and tax partner Gareth Amdor, who joins from Reed Smith.

DLA also grew elsewhere in Europe, as Cathrine Foldberg Møller is set to join its finance practice in Luxembourg from Simmons & Simmons.

For its part, Ashurst was also active, bringing Heidi Blomqvist into its London corporate team as a partner.

Blomqvist joins after more than a decade at White & Case, where she made partner this year. She brings experience advising corporate and PE clients on a variety of transactions in the energy and infrastructure space.

Also expanding in real estate are Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, which brought former Gibson Dunn partner Claibourne Harrison to its London office, and Shoosmiths, which has hired Simon Collis from Steptoe.

Linklaters managing associate Jasmine Olomolaiye is moving to Foot Anstey in London, where she will join the investigations, corporate crime and sanctions team. 

Fieldfisher has hired investment funds partner Mark Shaw, who will join the firm’s London office from Pinsent Masons. 

Broadfield has made a series of hires in London, including swiping Pillsbury partner Gavin Watson, who will become the firm’s global head of energy and infrastructure.

The firm will also bring in private wealth partners Jonathan Kropman from JMW Solicitors and Katherine Forster, who was previously a legal director at Birketts.

Penningtons Manches Cooper has also expanded in London with the hire of personal injury and medical negligence partner Robert Dransfield, who spent just under 20 years at Stewarts.

In another exit from DLA, sports specialist legal director James Thorndyke will join Simons Muirhead Burton as a partner in the firm’s London office.

Wedlake Bell has grown its City team as it brings in divorce and family partner Rebecca Christie, formerly a senior associate at Fladgate.

DWF has hired former DAC Beachcroft partner Ian Plumley, who specialises in insurance and reinsurance.

Plumley will join the firm’s London office, bringing with him over 30 years of experience in the sector.

In Manchester, Addleshaw Goddard has hired real estate partner Kirsty Chalkley from Shoosmiths.

On the continent, McDermott Will & Schulte has expanded its Milan banking and finance practice with the addition of transactions specialist Andrea Giaretta, who joins as a partner from Freshfields, where he was a senior associate.

Pinsent Masons has hired Linklaters counsel Belén Lavandera as a partner in its employment team in Madrid, while in Geneva Charles Russell Speechlys has hired tax partner Frédéric Ney from Swiss firm Bär & Karrer, where he was a senior associate. 

In the UAE, Dechert has rehired financial services and investment partner Phillip Sacks from White & Case, where he has spent the last two years. As he returns to the firm, Sacks will serve as managing partner for Dechert’s Dubai office.

Finally, offshore firm Harneys has hired Katrina Edge as the head of its banking and finance practice in Jersey. Edge will join the firm after over 20 years at Ogier, where she most recently served as global head of banking and finance.

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‘2026 will not be business as usual’ – the in-house forecast for the year ahead

‘It’s a really interesting time to be an in-house lawyer,’ begins Stephen Shapiro, group general counsel at Barclays.

The ‘fast-changing geopolitical and technological environment,’ as he puts it, means that the in-house role is in a constant state of evolution – one that comes with both potential highs and lows for general counsel.

The role of in-house counsel has already undergone significant transformation in recent years, ‘in response to geopolitical shifts, rapid technological innovation and economic pressure,’ notes Dorina Papadopoulou, secretary and manager of legal services at the state-owned Electricity Authority of Cyprus, the country’s main electricity provider.

Legal teams have faced ‘faster decision cycles, tighter budgets and higher regulatory expectations,’ explains Mahmoud S. Youssef, general counsel at Foodics, a Middle Eastern food tech company.

Looking ahead to this year, ‘2026 will not be business as usual,’ warns Line Kornmo Fjellheim, head of legal for Norway & Iceland at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners. ‘Geopolitical volatility, accelerated tech disruption, and mounting legislative pressure will redefine how organisations operate,’ she continues.

Companies will continue to be required to adapt quickly and stay ahead of new regulations, while maintaining successful and sustainable commercial growth, and it is in-house counsel that are, more often than not, finding themselves as the driving force behind this change.

As Fjellheim observes, ‘in-house teams must combine foresight with execution, helping the business stay ahead of legislative and geopolitical headwinds while spotting opportunities in disruption.’ 

‘In-house counsel will need to be open to change and will need to upskill quickly’

In-house teams are, therefore, becoming increasingly integrated within their organisations – rather than operating as ‘a standalone control function,’ as Hadi N. El Kadi, group chief legal officer at Dubai-based conglomerate Al Habtoor Group, puts it.

Gone are the days when legal teams were viewed purely as gatekeepers – ‘the in-house legal role has transformed from being a checkpoint to becoming a strategic driver of growth,’ Fjellheim explains. Papadopoulou agrees: ‘Legal departments are now more deeply involved in strategic decision-making, crisis management and governance structures’.  

This evolution not only requires greater legal responsibility, but also enhanced commercial acumen. General counsel are increasingly acting as true business partners. As Shapiro (pictured) points out, this development ‘offers significant opportunities in how in-house counsel can solidify their position as a trusted partner to business colleagues and stakeholders’. 

In practice, this means in-house counsel must bridge the gap between legal and business interests. Legal teams are ‘partnering with commercial teams to unlock new markets, navigate complex trade landscapes, and ensure business growth within regulatory boundaries,’ Fjellheim explains.   

It is a trend that shows no signs of slowing. ‘This evolution will accelerate in 2026 as organisations face heightened volatility and legislative pressure,’ continues Fjellheim. Companies will increasingly rely on legal teams not just for legal advice, but also for guidance that builds resilience and drives business forward. The in-house role ‘will continue to evolve towards greater integration with risk management, compliance, digital transformation and board-level governance,’ confirms Papadopoulou.  

And digital transformation is a key aspect of this competitive business landscape – it would be ‘remiss’ not to mention technology and AI, Shapiro acknowledges. In-house counsel play a critical role in ensuring companies stay ahead of technological developments, from both a regulatory and commercial perspective. Legal teams must have a ‘clear focus on governance, data integrity, and decision quality,’ El Kadi notes

Technological revolution within organisations must be ethical and compliant, in line with both local and regional regulations. Here, the in-house role is to ‘embed compliance into strategy, and ensure the organisation stays agile and competitive in a demanding global environment,’ Fjellheim says.  

Legislation around AI and similar tools is complex and rapidly developing, racing to keep up with the pace of adoption. Teams must balance these regulatory developments, while also navigating the use of new technology themselves.

This is no mean feat, Shapiro acknowledges: ‘In-house counsel will need to be open to change and will need to upskill quickly and adapt how they do their work on a daily basis’. Legal teams must incorporate legal tech into their day-to-day routine at an exponential pace: clients, colleagues and senior management are expecting work to be delivered faster and more efficiently with the new technology available, freeing up their lawyers to focus on more demanding and complex tasks.  

Rapid adoption of new tools and AI ‘brings with it both risks and challenges, but also great opportunities,’ Shapiro explains, ‘allowing lawyers to exercise skill and judgement while increasing the speed at which they can undertake some of the more routine jobs’. 

With less time spent on routine tasks, in-house counsel are better positioned to act as the integral function they have become. As organisations continue to navigate an unpredictable legal, business and regulatory landscape in 2026, ‘boards and executive teams are increasingly expecting legal leaders to translate regulatory, contractual, and geopolitical risks into commercial impact, scenario outcomes, and strategic tradeoffs,’ says El Kadi.  

In-house lawyers must cut through the volatility and complexity to act as true business partners and lead their organisations through both legal and commercial change.  

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Paul Hastings restocks high yield with A&O Shearman partner and relaunches Brussels office

Paul Hastings has bolstered its UK and Europe offerings with a pair of partner hires this week, building its City high yield practice and relaunching in Brussels.

First, the firm has hired high yield partner Brad Weyland from A&O Shearman, in a move that sees it act quickly to plug the gap left by the departure of high yield chair Patrick Bright, who moved to Sullivan & Cromwell last month.

Weyland joined legacy Allen & Overy in 2021 from Latham & Watkins, where he was a counsel. His practice focuses on high-yield bonds, bridge loans and term loans for investment banks, private credit providers and corporates, with additional experience in restructurings and liability management matters.

After Bright’s departure, it was likely that Paul Hastings would act swiftly to secure a replacement to replenish its capacity in high yield as a cornerstone of its London finance practice, a person familiar with the move said.

Key players in Paul Hastings’ London finance practice are Ross Anderson, who co-chairs the office with corporate partner Matt Poxon, and Mo Nurmohamed who co-chairs the global finance practice.

Both Anderson and Nurmohamed are Legal 500 leading partners for acquisition finance, and both joined Paul Hastings from Latham in 2022.

Meanwhile, the firm has also relaunched its Brussels office with its hire of King & Spalding competition partner Salomé Cisnal de Ugarte. 

Cisnal de Ugarte spent just under five years at King & Spalding, where she was head of EU and EMEA antitrust and competition.

‘As antitrust enforcement continues to intensify across industries such as tech, pharma, energy and financial services, Salomé’s experience and reputation will enhance our ability to win mandates and advise our M&A and private equity clients in navigating increasingly complex, multi-jurisdictional regulatory scrutiny,’ said Paul Hastings chair Frank Lopez.

The moves comes amid a period of partner churn for the US firm’s London office, though revenue growth in the UK capital has been significant. Weyland is the 11th lateral hire over the last six months – but the firm has seen at least as many partners depart over the same timeframe.

European restructuring practice chair Will Needham left to join S&C alongside Bright last month, while high yield partner Ed Holmes left for Cadwalader last summer.

The firm’s remaining London high yield partners include Reena Gogna, who joined from Weil in 2024, and Max Kirchner, who joined from Proskauer in 2020.

During this same six-month period, the firm also added structured credit partner Thomas Picton from Ashurst, fund finance partner Jennifer Passagne from Haynes Boone and investment funds partner David Richardson from Simpson Thacher.

Despite the turbulence, Lopez is bullish about London, telling Legal Business last month that he aims to make the office the firm’s second biggest, after its New York headquarters.

Financial results released at the end of last month showed firmwide revenue had increased 20% year on year, to a new high of $2.68bn, with the London office accounting for 10% of this, up 25% to $272.4m.

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