The firms that appear in Global London are the 50 largest non-UK originated firms in London, ranked by headcount.
Total lawyer numbers include partners, associates, assistants and trainees but not paralegals. Partner and lawyer numbers were all requested as full-time equivalent averages for 2011 and all partner hires are up to and including February 2012.
LB ventures beyond the established elite to highlight five practices blazing a trail in the City.
The need to differentiate in the market is paramount. Some firms have always been good at it, while others have struggled and floundered.
There is a group of US firms in the City that has now established its strengths. Using the benefit of large US platforms, these firms have, over time, built impressive offerings in the City, be it in IP, energy, regulation or litigation.
With a flurry of US firms luring funds partners from UK rivals, LB finds out why lawyers in this area are hot property.
Periodically the City goes through a feeding frenzy of lateral hires. In the past, firms have gobbled up partners in structured finance, restructuring and litigation. The current plat du jour though, is funds.
Immigration laws are forcing international law firms to advertise jobs alongside retail and fast food companies.
Despite this, the number of international lawyers in London is falling. Where have all the US-qualified lawyers gone?
It is no secret that legacy firm Denton Wilde Sapte (DWS) has had a rough ride. During the 2010/11 financial year, the firm’s UK LLP (including the Middle East and Europe) posted an 8% decrease in revenue to £154.4m, while profits per equity partner (PEP) fell to an unimpressive £233,000. This represented a 34% drop (the second in a five-year period) on the previous year and saw the bottom of the equity take home just £156,000.
The EMEA side to the business sits at number 89 in LB’s profitability table, having performed better than just six firms in the entire top 100. But with profit per lawyer (PPL) at an all time low of £29,000 and a margin of just 13%, this firm has almost been run into the ground.
London firms have traditionally focused their US strategy on New York but a presence in Washington DC has become increasingly popular. Can the growing band of UK firms thrive in the US capital?
At times it can be fashionable to bash Washington DC. For most US senators or congressmen, berating the lobbyist-fuelled, back-scratching political climate in the US capital can do wonders for their re-election prospects. In his State of the Union speech in January, President Obama summed up the popular sentiment. ‘I bet most Americans are thinking the same thing right about now: nothing will get done in Washington this year, next year or maybe even the year after that because Washington is broken,’ he declared.
While generally international law firms in London have remained static, there have been a handful of US firms that have continued to shine. LB tracks the most aggressive performers in London in the past 12 months.
There must be a lot of empty desks over at Hunton & Williams’ office in London’s Gherkin. Over the course of a few short weeks in April and May last year the US firm lost virtually its entire transactional team, after a partner exodus saw the 35-strong office dwindle to just 13 lawyers (although insiders say that the number is closer to eight) by the close of 2011.
In our fifth annual risk management and professional indemnity survey in association with Marsh, the world’s leading insurance broker and risk adviser, we analyse the latest trends in risk management, reveal the results of our far reaching survey and talk to the leading names in risk management at the City’s largest firms.
Continue reading “Risk Management and Professional Indemnity Survey 2012 – Treading Carefully”
Two oligarchs; $6.5bn; and enough lawyers to form an entirely new firm. This is Berezovsky v Abramovich, the largest litigation in the world
In Hermès on Sloane Street on Friday 5 October 2007 Roman Abramovich, the billionaire owner of Chelsea Football Club, is enjoying a quiet afternoon shopping. Two doors down in Dolce & Gabbana, his former business partner is also indulging in a little retail therapy. In better days the two would visit each other’s superyachts and holiday together. But by 2007 the relationship had soured, and Berezovsky was itching to issue a writ suing his former friend for $6.5bn.
Forget the egos, conflicts and pay packets. Here’s our winning formula for creating a dream team outside of the established elite.
In July 2002, we carried a feature bringing together a group of partners that would create a genuine competitor for the Magic Circle, a true fantasy law firm (‘Futures, options and swaps’, LB126, page 36). A decade on, it’s time to have another look at where the true talent outside of the elite group of law firms can be found.
