With the publication of our annual Global London report, leading figures at foreign firms in the City assess their performance and how the market is shaping up.
Fair weather
‘In doing offshore, you become quite a good barometer. My sense is that people feel a lot more confident than two years ago – it’s still quite driven by sectors. We’re almost 50% up on where we were at in 2013, mostly from the finance space. Quite perversely, we’ve slimmed down numbers but grown the book of business.’
Jack Boldarin, London managing partner, Walkers
Pride before fall
‘US firms coming into London have this big reputation in the States and think everyone should know who they are and then they arrive, and realise no one does. The approach we’re taking for London to work is sticking to what we’re good at and what we’re known for, as opposed to trying to be all things to all people like so many top firms in London already that we won’t be able to compete with.’
Justin Stock, London managing partner, Cooley
Different strokes
‘Most of the top US firms have a leverage finance offering in London and it is very concentrated on the high-yield side. On the banking side, it is much more split between the UK and US firms, but essentially it is the elite global firms – the Magic Circle, Latham and Cravath – that are strong.’
Ronan O’Sullivan, London managing partner, Paul Hastings
Rounded individuals
‘We hire in at an associate level in London but you have to be very careful because people get into particular habits, which may have worked at their former firm but may not work here. For example, a junior associate in our corporate group will be expected to cover a broad range of work, including M&A, capital markets and financing, whereas some of the larger UK firms encourage specialisation at an early stage, which may result in a narrower focus.’
Simon Jay, partner, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
Deal breakers
‘In M&A transactions in the UK we will now frequently do a deal where there will be a US firm on the other side. We used to always see a large UK firm here but actually it is quite commonplace to see lawyers on the other side from a similarly configured practice. Finance is an important part of this, but we are seeing US firms take greater market share in M&A now as well.’
Ben Perry, partner, Sullivan & Cromwell
London calling
‘If I were a US firm without a London office, it would be one of my top three priorities strategically, because geography is important – the banks are here – and you need to have sufficient English law capability. It’s both proactive and defensive – as clients appreciate globalisation, the law firm needs to be able to match that. That does not mean you have to be everywhere but you need English lawyers.’
Steve Wardlaw, outgoing partner-in-charge of the London office, Baker Botts
Chasing rainbows
‘US firms in London can struggle as there’s no strategic rationale. A US firm opens an office in London, after a couple of years the partners realise the referral business they thought was going to come doesn’t materialise. They may have a couple of people with a particularly strong niche, they invest in that niche, and before they know it they are making requests to hire in areas that are not strategic to that firm globally, such as someone saying they want to hire in real estate in London.’
Nick Buckworth, London managing partner, Shearman & Sterling
New funds
‘One of the biggest contributors to our recent performance has been the broadening out of the practice. Whereas previously it was very private equity focused and a lot of the work, even if it wasn’t generated by the partners, was based on private equity experience, now the work is based off funds generally. A lot of the big private equity funds aren’t private equity funds anyway.’
Mike Francies, London managing partner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges