Global 100 – Stories of the year

With law firm mergers and collapses, new office launches, a proliferation of strategic hiring and big-name changes in management, 2023 was a rocking year. Here are the headline stories of the last 12 months

2022

December

 

• Adrian Cartwright was elected senior partner at Clifford Chance, defeating Dubai partner Edmund Boyo and incumbent senior partner Jeroen Ouwehand.
• Pinsent Masons elected Laura Cameron as its new managing partner. Cameron is the first woman to lead the firm and took the reins after John Cleland finished his second four-year term.
• Sullivan & Cromwell won a role advising on the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX. The team was led by New York restructuring co-heads Andrew Dietderich and James Bromley.
• White & Case announced the hire of former Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner EMEA private equity head Ian Ivory.
• Milbank acquired Anglo-Scottish firm Dickson Minto’s London office. The firm brought over a six-partner private equity team, comprised of Paul Buchan, James McClymont, Ajal Notowicz, Andrew Nuthall, Jordan Simpson and Lara Watt. Dickson Minto retained its Edinburgh office.
• Norton Rose Fulbright Australian chair Scott Atkins was appointed the firm’s new global chair, succeeding Farmida Bi, who stayed on as EMEA chair.
• Stuart Bedford replaced Nick Roome as head of UK law at KPMG. Bedford joined the firm from Linklaters, where he served as London head of corporate 2014-16.
• Baker McKenzie became the first firm to announce its end of year bonuses. Davis Polk followed suit with a matching offer, and firms including Paul Hastings, Ropes & Gray, Hogan Lovells and Paul Weiss were among those setting rates largely in line with those of Cravath, as well as Clifford Chance and Freshfields. NQs received $15,000, those who qualified in 2021 got $20,000, while those with seven and eight years’ PQE received $105,000 and $115,000, respectively.

2023

January

• The merger between Mishcon de Reya and Taylor Vinters went live, more than a year after it was first announced in September 2021.
• Shares at Ince were suspended, as the firm lost corporate head Alon Domb, head of employment Laura Livingstone, and partners Alan Barnett, Nick Goldstone, and Mona Patel. Domb and Livingstone moved to Simons Muirhead Burton. Barnett moved to DWF, Goldstone to Child & Child, and Patel to Penningtons Manches Cooper.
• Winston & Strawn hired Addleshaw Goddard’s corporate restructuring head Paul Fleming to lead its London restructuring and insolvency practice.
• Gibson Dunn opened a new office in Abu Dhabi, with three partner hires from Shearman & Sterling: former global head of finance and Middle East managing partner Renad Younes and projects specialist Samuel Ogunlaja joined in Abu Dhabi, while corporate partner Jade Chu joined in Dubai.
• Davis Polk announced its launch of an EU antitrust practice in Brussels, to be led by former Allen & Overy partners Jürgen Schindler, who served as co-head of the global competition and antitrust group, and Frances Dethmers.
• K&L Gates opened an office in Dublin, to be headed by new asset management and investment funds hires Gayle Bowen, Shane Geraghty, and Michelle Lloyd, who joined the firm from Pinsent Masons, Dillon Eustace, and Maples and Calder, respectively.
• Linklaters lost its infrastructure co-heads Jessamy Gallagher and Stuart Rowson to Paul Hastings.
• Macfarlanes hired Sidley’s London private funds head Stephen Ross.
• Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner hired Reed Smith’s London corporate real estate head Chris Beaumont-McQuillan.
• Global antitrust co-chair Sharis Arnold Pozen became Clifford Chance’s new Americas regional managing partner, the first woman to take the role.
• Shoosmiths announced its appointment of Rachel Reid as chief operating officer (COO). Reid took over the role in March, and previously served as COO at Taylor Wessing and King & Wood Mallesons, before moving to DLA Piper.

February

• Womble Bond Dickinson and BDB Pitmans announced the end of their merger talks.
• Shearman & Sterling EMEA and Asia M&A head Philip Cheveley left the firm for Sidley.
• In an overhaul of its leadership structure, Linklaters phased out its global COO role following the January departure of former COO and chief information officer Matt Peers.
• Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) announced that it was closing its Seoul office after ten years. The firm established a new Korea group, to be led by partners Mike McClure KC and Dana Kim, who relocated to London and Hong Kong, respectively.
• Addleshaw Goddard announced the election of Aster Crawshaw as senior partner, effective from 1 May. Crawshaw took over from Charles Penney, who completed two terms in the role.
• News broke that Australian private equity firm Allegro Funds was moving to take over Slater & Gordon, which became one of the world’s first listed law firms in 2007.

March

• Shearman & Sterling and Hogan Lovells announced the end of their merger talks. Shearman named Adam Hakki as its new senior partner in the wake of the news, with incumbent senior partner David Beveridge starting the transition early. In a major move that came to light only later, Hakki entered into negotiations with Allen & Overy’s Wim Dejonghe.
• HSF, Latham, and Clifford Chance became the first three foreign firms granted licences to operate in Saudi Arabia after the kingdom reformed its code of law practice.
• John Timperio took the reins of Dechert’s global finance and real estate practice group, as incumbent head David Forti prepared to move into his new role as firm co-chair.
• Cravath launched its English-law offering with the hires of leveraged finance duo Philip Stopford and Korey Fevzi from Shearman. The move saw Cravath become one of the last US firms in London to move into English law, leaving only Paul Weiss – which caused a furore when it made its own move later in the year.
• Morgan Lewis launched an office in Munich with its hire of 20 lawyers from Shearman & Sterling. Partners Florian Harder, Florian Ziegler, and Jann Jetter came in as office heads, with Harder taking the title of office managing partner.
• Quinn Emanuel opened a new office in Beijing, headed by China practice lead Xiao Liu. Shanghai office head Haiyan Tang moved into a co-leading role in the China practice alongside Liu.
• A raft of firms advised on HSBC’s purchase of Silicon Valley Bank UK after the US-based SVB collapsed. Clifford Chance acted for HSBC. Hogan Lovells advised multiple UK and US clients, while Slaughter and May acted for SVBUK and Ashurst acted for the Bank of England. Freshfields also played a role.
• In another, far larger shock to the banking sector, Credit Suisse collapsed. UBS reached a deal to buy the bank, and in the process triggered a write down of $17bn in additional tier 1 bonds, which later prompted firms including Quinn Emanuel and Pallas Partners to file suits on behalf of investors. Davis Polk and Freshfields advised UBS on the takeover, while Cleary Gottlieb and Sullivan & Cromwell advised Credit Suisse, alongside Swiss firm Homburger.
• Gowling WLG announced its launch of a new office in Frankfurt, with five partners focused on M&A, capital markets, corporate, and real estate. Lars-Gerrit Lüßmann, Ulrich Reers, Michael Sinhart, and Michael Lamsa joined from Taylor Wessing, with Lüßmann and Reers leading the German capital markets team, while Sinhart and Lamsa head the M&A, private equity and venture capital team.
• Linklaters lost its financial sponsor leveraged finance practice co-head Edward Aldred to Cleary Gottlieb.
• Pfizer announced it had reached a deal to acquire Seagen for $43bn in one of the biggest M&A transactions of the year. Pfizer was advised by a team from Wachtell, while Sullivan & Cromwell advised Seagen.

April

• Allen & Overy appointed its global litigation co-head, Karen Seward, and project finance and infrastructure partner, Kent Rowey, to co-chair the firm’s US operations, succeeding US senior partner Tim House. The pair assumed their roles on 1 May and continued with their client work.
• Kirkland & Ellis posted its financial results, showing a modest 8% increase in revenue and a 2% rise in partner profits. This marked a significant slowdown in growth from the previous year, when a 25% surge in revenue saw Kirkland become the first law firm to pass $6bn in revenue.
• Baker McKenzie and Weil were involved in one of the biggest M&A deals of the year, with Bakers representing Sika in its $5.3bn acquisition of Master Builder Construction Chemicals (MBCC) Group from private equity firm Lone Star Funds. Lone star was advised by Weil.

May

• Pallas Partners co-ordinated proceedings in the Swiss courts on behalf of approximately 800 Credit Suisse AT1 bondholders who held securities valued at $1.7bn. The bondholders submitted claims against the Swiss regulator, Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). They contended that FINMA’s decision to reduce the bonds’ value to zero during UBS’s acquisition of Credit Suisse should be deemed invalid, seeking the reinstatement of the bonds’ original value.
• Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling announced the groundbreaking news that they planned to merge to create a ‘unique global law firm’ named Allen Overy Shearman Sterling – A&O Shearman for short.
• HSF became another firm to launch in Riyadh, with energy and infrastructure partner Alexander Currie and project finance partner Phil Hanson joining M&A specialist Joza AlRasheed, who became office managing partner.

June

• Linklaters, Slaughter and May, and Freshfields were involved in the merger agreement between Three and Vodafone which, subject to rigorous competition and regulatory approvals, will form the UK’s biggest telephone operator.
• Clifford Chance appointed real estate lawyer, Ness Cohen, as the first ever managing partner of its New York office. Cohen joined CC in 1998 and was promoted to the partnership in 2007. He has held the positions of regional practice area leader of the Americas real estate practice and chair of the Americas personnel committee.
• White & Case elected Heather McDevitt, a New York litigation partner, as its new global chair and first-ever female leader.
• Clifford Chance also opened a new office in Houston, expanding its global energy and infrastructure practice in the US.

July

• Rich Youle, Skadden’s much-admired co-head of private equity, took over from Pranav Trivedi as the head of Skadden’s London office.
• DWF confirmed that it was planning to delist from the London Stock Exchange in a buyout by private equity firm Inflexion.
• Taylor Wessing became a €500m firm for the first time, sustaining global growth for the fifth year in a row.
• Gibson Dunn hired two partners from Shearman & Sterling in London, infrastructure and projects partners Ben Shorten and Trinh Chubbock. Shorten was appointed to head up Gibson’s EMEA projects team.
• Allen & Overy announced the resignation of managing partner Gareth Price amid a set of financial results that saw the Magic Circle firm break £2bn in revenue for the first time.
• Clifford Chance became the second Magic Circle firm to post revenues in excess of £2bn.
• Eversheds Sutherland entered a formal agreement with Chinese firm King & Wood Mallesons, agreeing that KWM will exclusively refer all its clients requiring legal advice in the UK, Europe, Middle East, Africa and South America to Eversheds, while Eversheds will refer all its international clients in need of PRC legal counsel solely to KWM.

August

• Debt finance rainmaker Neel Sachdev left Kirkland after 20 years to become London office head and global finance and capital markets practice co-chair at Paul Weiss. In September, the firm confirmed that Sachdev brought with him a Kirkland team including debt finance partner Kanesh Balasubramaniam and capital markets partners Matthew Merkle and Deirdre Jones, with Merkle joining as head of European capital markets. The London hires saw Paul Weiss become the final US firm in London to establish an English law practice. Paul Weiss also hired a four-partner team from Kirkland in New York led by debt finance partner Eric Wedel.
• Kirkland & Ellis announced its hire of Paul Weiss London managing partner Alvaro Membrillera after news broke that private equity partner Roger Johnson was set to leave.
• US firms Vinson & Elkins and Ropes & Gray both announced plans for a minimum four-day in-office policy for their lawyers. Magic Circle firms seem less inclined to follow suit: Freshfields maintains its policy of lawyers spending three days in the office a week, while Slaughter and May and Allen & Overy grant the flexibility of remote work up to 40% of the time.
• Dentons announced a split from its China branch, Beijing Dacheng Law Offices, after new national security measures were imposed by the Chinese government.

September

• Kirkland & Ellis deal star Roger Johnson finally landed at Paul Weiss. He was joined by three other former Kirkland partners: Andreas Philipson, Timothy Lowe, and Cian O’Connor, all of whom had previous stints at Linklaters, as well as Linklaters partner Will Aitken-Davies, who joined as London M&A group head.
• Kirkland & Ellis partner Usman Khan moved over to McDermott Will & Emery as a partner in the transactions practice.
• Kirkland debt finance partner Stefan Arnold-Soulby left to be reunited with his colleague Neel Sachdev at Paul Weiss.
• Partners at Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling began voting on the two firms’ merger, with a 75% support threshold and voting scheduled to finish on 13 October.
• Osborne Clarke announced the launch of its third US office in Miami, adding to its existing offerings in San Francisco and New York. OC appointed the former managing partner of Bird & Bird Spain and IT, data law and international dispute resolution specialist, Javier Fernández-Samaniego, from his own firm Samaniego Law as its managing partner.
• The partnership of Hogan Lovells voted in chief executive Miguel Zaldivar for a second four-year term. It follows on from the firm’s board’s unanimous recommendation that Zaldivar be re-elected for a term starting on 1 July 2024, subject to a partner vote, which closed at the end of August.
• Scottish firms Morton Fraser and MacRoberts announced their intention to merge, creating ‘a new style of firm’ within independent Scottish firms.

October

• Following a disastrous year for Axiom Ince, the Solicitors Regulation Authority finally stepped in to close the firm with immediate effect on 3 October. The decision was taken to protect the interests of clients and former clients of the firm. Intervening agents were appointed to deal with all live Axiom Ince matters and to oversee the closure of its offices.
• Longstanding office head at Weil, Mike Francies, announced that he would be stepping down after more than 20 years leading the London office. It was announced that public M&A partner David Avery-Gee and private equity partner Jonathan Wood are to work alongside Francies as co-managing partners for a transition period which will start in January 2024.
• Allen & Overy and Shearman partners voted through a landmark $3.5bn transatlantic merger, with support from more than 99% of votes cast at each firm. The two firms are set to combine in May 2024, rebranding as A&O Shearman, with the new firm comprising nearly 4,000 lawyers across 48 offices and 29 countries.
• Eversheds Sutherland selected several new members for its senior leadership team across both its practice groups and business services teams. These included the appointment of Mark Davenport to group head of its litigation and dispute management practice, succeeding Paul Worth, the appointment of James Trafford to real estate practice group head, succeeding Gurjit Atwal and the appointment of Rob Bullough as the firm’s chief property officer.

November

• Axiom Ince continued its descent into chaos, appointing administrators Neil Bennett, Alex Cadwallader and Andrew Poxon of Leonard Curtis at the beginning of the month. By mid-November the firm found itself at the centre of a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation, with seven individuals arrested in connection and searches being carried out alongside the Metropolitan Police in dawn raids across nine sites. SFO investigators are also set to investigate how funds passed from Axiom Ince client accounts with Barclays to the State Bank of India to fund former managing partner Pragnesh Modhwadia’s purchase of both Ince and Plexus, alongside several properties.
• Kirkland & Ellis opened a new Riyadh office, to be led by corporate partner Kamran Bajwa. The firm also hired partners Noor Al-Fawzan, who specialises in M&A and corporate affairs, and Manal Al-Musharaf, who focuses on capital markets, from Latham & Watkins and White & Case, respectively.
• Travers Smith announced the election of Andrew Gillen as senior partner. Gillen will succeed acting senior partner Siân Keall, who took from Kathleen Russ in a full-time capacity after Russ’s decision to step down from the role on 30 June 2023. Gillen will commence his term on 1 January 2024.
• CMS elected Charles Currier, co-head of corporate, as its new senior partner. Currier will succeed widely admired Penelope Warne, who has held the position since 2013. LB

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