The London outposts of leading international firms reported mixed results for 2016, with White & Case and Baker McKenzie reporting income growth while Reed Smith and Debevoise & Plimpton both struggled.
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.
Continue reading “Global London: Has the City reached the end of its curious post-Lehman boom?”
‘We will continue to hire lawyers we see as adding something. That continues to be the mantra: hire great lawyers and your practice will grow.’
Richard East, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
As our Global London report hits desks, the leadership at US law firms in the City weigh up the challenges ahead
‘The firm has a clearly defined strategy for where and how we will grow. We will continue to build our top-ranked transactional, regulatory, litigation and trial practices and focus on the industries that are driving the global economy. Mission drift can happen if you take your eye off the strategy. The investments we make are for the long term and are key to ensuring we stay focused on what we need to do to serve our clients’ needs today, and in the future.’
Richard Trobman, vice chair, Latham & Watkins
London office headcount: 69 lawyers, 19 partners
Fee-earner headcount change since 2011: n/a
London head: Tim Frazer
Office speciality: Life sciences, dispute resolution, telecommunications, white-collar crime Continue reading “Focus: Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer”
Latham & Watkins has bolstered its regulatory and disputes offering in the City with the hire of Ashurst’s head of financial services regulation Rob Moulton.
French firm AyacheSalama has launched its first international office in the City with four partners as it looks to advise on client investment from London into France more efficiently.
Financial services boutique BuckleySandler is set to launch its first international office as it expands its global financial crimes practice.
Our 12th annual Legal Business Global London survey reveals the pressure a mounting US offensive is putting on City stalwarts. Can the UK firms resist the advance?
Maurice Allen, co-managing partner of Ropes & Gray’s London office, knows all about the major players in the City, having taken in Clifford Chance (CC), White & Case and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer during his career. ‘All US firms are doing extremely well,’ he says. ‘A number of firms made significant investments – they’re hiring because the market is playing very nicely to the US firms.’ A biased view perhaps but one that is backed up by the data in this year’s Global London survey: overall headcount of the 50 largest global firms in the UK is up by 6% on the previous year to 4,624 from 4,382.
It’s been a challenging period for European firms, but a growing band of players see a substantive City presence as core to their future prospects
Top-tier French outfit Gide Loyrette Nouel is the only continental European firm ever to have made our list of the 50 largest foreign firms in London and its fortunes in the Capital in recent years tell the story of many international firms post-Lehman. In 2008, it had 45 lawyers in the City. By 2013, this had fallen to 34. This is against a backdrop of poor financial performance in recent years, with turnover dropping 30% from £7.8m to £5.5m in the 2011/12 financial year, alongside a gross profit drop of 63% from £3.8m to £1.4m.
Latham & Watkins has recruited high-profile Norton Rose derivatives and structured finance partner Dean Naumowicz as the US giant makes its third senior City hire of the year. Continue reading “Global London advances – Latham secures third senior City recruit of the year”
