Despite much talk of client pressure on fees the determination to recruit top associates continues to build with one leading New York firm this week jolting the industry by announcing a record pay scale for its US and City associates.
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy on Monday (4 June) announced that its associates will earn between $190,000 and $330,000 from 1 July. Continue reading “Milbank bids up associate pay as surprise moves takes City associates to new $190k benchmark”
A former Locke Lord partner who played a key role in the US firm receiving the largest ever fine from the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) has been struck off and ordered to pay £70,000 in costs.
Jonathan Denton, a banking and finance partner at Locke Lord, was sacked in July 2015 after using the firm’s client account for transactions ‘that bore the hallmarks of dubious financial arrangements or investment schemes’, according to a judgement from the SDT last November. Continue reading “‘Dubious financial arrangements’: Disgraced ex-Locke Lorde partner struck off and handed £70,000 bill”
Striking numbers abound in this year’s Global London table, if you are into that kind of thing. The three pace-setting US brands in London – Latham & Watkins, Kirkland & Ellis and White & Case – are all generating in the $300m region in the Square Mile, last year saw the first $10m lateral and my back-of-the-envelope scribbling indicates that the top 50 US firms are comfortably pulling in over $5bn in the UK.
The market is increasingly now defined by this trio, predictably so in the case of Latham, though City lawyers are still trying to get their heads around the idea of Kirkland and White & Case as mounting a frontal challenge. A few years ago, I’d have been equally sceptical, particularly in the latter’s case, but if there is a glaring hole in the game plan of these two outfits, they are hiding it well. With all three making ground in mainstream transactional work through 2017 and securing significant hires – the idea that certain kinds of M&A will remain the preserve of City advisers over the next three years looks fanciful.
Continue reading “Brexit looms yet City law tilts further towards US leaders”
To mark the launch of our 2018 Global London report, we ask senior figures at leading US firms in London for a progress update
‘Until a few years ago it was very hard to get a UK partner to leave their firm. Today we see the pendulum swinging: it went from extreme loyalty to far less. The focus for US firms has to be on how to keep people. Historically, Proskauer has done that really well.’
Mary Kuusisto, London office head, Proskauer Rose Continue reading “The Last Word – Views from the market”
Kirkland & Ellis has hiked revenues by more than $500m to overtake Latham & Watkins as the world’s highest-earning law firm, as revenues surged to $3.165bn.
The Chicago-bred giant today (22 March) announced its results for the 2017 financial year, confirmed a 19% hike in revenues against $2.65bn the previous year. Profit per equity partner (PEP) surged nearly 15%, to $4.7m from last year’s $4.1m, making it one of the world’s most profitable law firms. Headcount rose 13.5% to 1,997 lawyers, while revenues per lawyer increased 5.2% to $1.585m. Continue reading “Rampant Kirkland surges past Latham to become world’s top-billing law firm as PEP closes in on $5m”
‘Turnover for vanity, profit for sanity.’ How many times have you heard that phrase or variations of the theme espoused in the legal industry? A lot since the banking crisis recast the profession.
Commercial firms are forever chasing the grail of higher profitability to the extent of fashioning strategy around the notion of slashing the business to achieve it. People used to forecast consolidation and the dawn of the $10bn law firm – now it is as common for law firm leaders to talk of City-bred institutions getting smaller. Continue reading “Comment: Slashing to victory – the most dangerous law firm myth”
City heavyweights Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Slaughter and May have been met by Wall Street rivals Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Davis Polk & Wardwell and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom on a host of deals marking a bumper week for public M&A.
Cleary consolidated long-standing relationships and bolstered its public M&A ambitions, advising Fidessa group on the proposed £1.4bn takeover offer from fellow financial software company Temenos Group, as well as American Express on its joint venture’s £400m takeover of Hogg Robinson. Continue reading “Deal watch: US leaders nail key roles alongside Magic Circle on Amex, Standard Life and Fidessa plays”
