Georgina Stanley and Anna Cole-Bailey assess a highly competitive sector in flux
Tesco, Rolls-Royce, Unaoil, Greenergy – as companies face increasing scrutiny of their governance and anti-corruption procedures, the number of law firms striving to corner the lucrative white-collar/corporate crime market shows no sign of abating. Continue reading “Firms pile into fast-moving corporate crime sphere but is there enough work to keep all hands busy?”
‘We’ve disrupted the market – everybody knows about us now,’ says Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan London co-managing partner Ted Greeno of the US firm’s inexorable rise in the City.
The ex-Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) partner, himself one of a string of high-profile recruits Quinn Emanuel made since its London launch in 2008, has a point. The disputes-only powerhouse now counts some 85 full-time partners and associates in London – a larger team than Slaughter and May’s litigation offering and not far off the size of Clifford Chance (CC)’s muscular City practice (see below). Continue reading “New players and funding prompt evolution of disputes but City leaders adapt well”
If there’s one City practice that has barely paused for breath in recent years, it is private equity (PE). Global buyout values reached a record high in 2018 and, while Mergermarket data suggests the first half of 2019 slipped back somewhat, activity levels remain strong, with take-privates driving much marquee M&A activity.
This has only served to underline the drawing power of the sector’s top dealmakers and recent years have seen a flurry of lateral moves. Kirkland & Ellis, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Latham & Watkins are among the most potent threats to the Magic Circle, but others, such as Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Willkie Farr & Gallagher have also made investments to build out their City operations. Continue reading “Top Trumps, City-style – Who holds the cards in private equity?”
