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Global London is an annual report on the performance of US and international firms in London, which appears in the March/April issue of Legal Business.
Spanish leader Garrigues has continued its pacesetting reputation among the Euro Elite firms by becoming the first in the group to break the €450m turnover barrier.
The results, announced on Tuesday (20 February) continue a decade-long purple patch for the firm, with a 2.5% revenue increase on last year to €454.3m marking a banner year.
In keeping with Hogan Lovells’ recently released financial results, Akin has reported strong financials for 2023, contradicting fears of diminished returns for the global elite.
Revenue at the firm is up 11% to $1.37bn from $1.23bn, while profit per equity partner (PEP) has jumped 22% to $3.15m from $2.58m. This follows a sluggish 2022 for the firm, which saw global revenue grow by only 1% and PEP drop by 17%.
The firm highlighted its financial restructuring, private credit, traditional energy, energy transition, international trade and litigation practices as particularly high performers over the last financial year.
Leading the high-profile moves this week, Fried Frank has strengthened its London private equity practice with a triple hire from Goodwin. Christian Iwasko , Michelle Tong, and Priya Rupal have departed from Goodwin after a three-year stint, and bring with them experience at Sidley and Kirkland & Ellis.
Elsewhere in the City, Clifford Chance has bolstered its finance team with the addition of Blake Jones from Paul Hastings. Jones departs from Paul Hastings after five years, bringing extensive expertise in structured finance, having previously worked at Linklaters earlier in his career.
Paul Hastings has hired litigation and trial partners Oliver Browne and Stuart Alford KC from Latham & Watkins, just days after it lost structured finance partner Blake Jones to Clifford Chance. Paul Hastings confirmed the moves today (16 February).
Browne leaves Latham after 18 years, having most recently served as the London co-chair of the litigation and trial department. He advises on cross-border disputes, both in court and arbitration, spanning various sectors and involving high-net-worth individuals.
Simpson Thacher has announced that Wheatly MacNamara will take over from Jason Glover as London managing partner in October. Glover, who has led the office since 2016, will remain at the firm in a strategic role. The news comes as the City office recorded a 23% rise in revenue for 2023.
MacNamara (pictured), whose practice focuses on real estate acquisitions, dispositions and joint ventures, joined the firm in 2005 and has been a partner since 2016. Her client book includes Blackstone, KKR, KSL, Apollo and Northwood.
As financial reporting season kicks off in earnest, Hogan Lovells has today (13 February) reported a 10% boost in global revenue to $2.68bn as profit per equity partner (PEP) jumped 20% to $2.74m.
This performance represents a $250m increase in the firm’s top line, contrasting with a $174m decline last year. After a 7% drop in revenue and an 8% decrease in PEP in 2022/23, this year’s double-digit growth strikes an optimistic tone for other Global 100 players.
Simpson Thacher begins this week’s lateral hire round-up with its recruitment of Legal 500 international arbitration leading individual David Edwards from Skadden. Edwards will co-lead the firm’s European disputes practice alongside Tyler Robinson.
The hire brings the London office to a total of five dispute partners: Edwards, Robinson, and antitrust specialists Antonio Bavasso, Ross Ferguson, and Étienne Renaudeau. All three antitrust partners are also listed as partners in the firm’s Brussels office, which opened in September 2021 and is headed by Bavasso and Renaudeau.
King & Spalding has hired Sir Max Hill KC (pictured) into its London office. Hill served as director of public prosecutions for England and Wales from November 2018 to October 2023. A barrister since 1987, he took silk in 2008 and was knighted after leaving the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in January 2024.
Hill’s addition brings the number of KCs in the firm’s London office to four, alongside disputes partner Ruth Byrne KC, arbitration partner John Savage KC, and office managing partner Tom Sprange KC.
It has been a busy week for White & Case, with the firm seeing the return of Patrick Sarch to its global mergers and acquisitions practice in London. He will be head of UK public M&A in the London corporate/ M&A group.
Sarch worked at White & Case between January 2017 and March 2021, moving to Hogan Lovells in March 2021, where he was co-head of the firms UK M&A practice. He advises on corporate finance, cross-border, and domestic public company M&A.
