Legal Business

Cooley takes Taylor Wessing, Goodwin and White & Case partners in London rebuild

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Cooley has moved to bolster its London ranks following a number of recent senior departures with the hire of a trio of partners from Taylor Wessing, Goodwin and White & Case.

The US firm has recruited Angus Miln, Ali Ramadan and Helen Pantelides, all of who will join the emerging companies and venture capital (ECVC) practice in London. The hires come just weeks after Cooley’s London managing partner Justin Stock and two other transactional partners left to join Akin’s London office.

Miln, a Legal 500 Hall of Famer for venture capital, joins Cooley after almost eight years at Taylor Wessing, where he led the VC practice. He also previously worked at Bird & Bird, where he made partner in 2008, as well as Latham & Watkins and Simmons & Simmons.

Pantelides, who made partner at White & Case last year, previously worked alongside Miln at Taylor Wessing before leaving to join the US firm in 2019.

The duo will be joined at Cooley by Legal 500 leading individual Ramadan, also an ex-Bird & Bird partner, who has spent the past five years at Goodwin after a brief stint at Orrick. All three focus on venture capital and high-growth companies , handling the life-cycle of corporate and financing matters for tech and life sciences clients.

London chief Stock, one of the founding partners of Cooley’s London office, quit the firm this summer, moving to US rival Akin with corporate head Stephen Rosen and fellow tech transactions partner David Bresnick.

The city base is now led by capital markets head Claire Keast-Butler and disputes head James Maton.

In a statement, Keast-Butler said: “Angus, Ali and Helen are among London’s most outstanding and well-regarded advisers to emerging companies and the venture capital industry. We are excited about the huge opportunity our expanded ECVC practice in London will bring as we continue to execute on our ambitious growth strategy.”

Keast-Butler has been at the firm since joining from Latham in 2019, while Maton is one of the remaining founding partners of Cooley’s London base, which opened in 2015.

The West Coast leader made a splashy launch in the City that year, taking partners from Morrison & Foerster and legacy Edwards Wildman Palmer to create a 55-lawyer UK practice.

Of the 20 partners who opened that office, just five now remain – Maton, Chris Coulter (tech transactions), Ann Bevitt (employment and privacy), Ryan Naftulin (corporate) and Laurence Harris (disputes).

According to its website, Cooley now has 30 partners in London and around 65 associates and counsel.

The firm recently appointed a new CEO to replace the long-serving Joe Conroy, who had held the position since 2008. Rachel Profitt stepped into the new role this January, with Conroy staying on as chairman.

Legal Business

‘An ambitious goal, but attainable’: Taylor Wessing’s Gleghorn on aiming for €1bn

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Taylor Wessing

Following his initial appointment as Taylor Wessing’s firmwide managing partner in 2018, and his reappointment in 2021, Shane Gleghorn has been re-elected for another three-year term, starting from October. 

After succeeding Tim Eyles, who served as managing partner for nine years, Gleghorn (pictured) has overseen significant growth during his tenure. Global revenue has climbed by more than 40% from £340m in 2018-19 to £480.7m in 2023-24, while UK revenue has seen an even more impressive rise, up almost 60% from £157m to £247m over the same period. 

This January the firm held its latest UK partner conference in Liverpool, at which Gleghorn – who was reappointed unopposed – outlined his plans for the firm over this third term. He focused on two key areas: the short-term outlook for the business, including expectations for the final quarter of the current financial year; and the firm’s three-year strategy, which was launched last year.

A central plank of this strategy is an ambitious goal of reaching €1bn (£840m) in revenue by 2028-29, which would require growth of almost 80% over that period.

 ‘Achieving this would be a significant milestone for us. While it’s an ambitious goal, we believe it’s attainable,’ said Gleghorn. ‘To reach it, we’ll need to focus not only on organic growth, but also on strategic lateral hiring, acquisitions, and expanding into new geographic markets. We have a detailed plan in place to achieve these objectives and drive our growth trajectory forward.’ 

‘This is an important time to be involved in setting the strategy for the firm, because the legal market is opening up to fast-growing firms who are focused on a set of high-value practices,’ he added. 

Under Gleghorn’s leadership, the firm has made 42 lateral partner hires, with global lawyer headcount now standing at 1,253 globally. This summer, the firm welcomed RPC partner Parham Kouchikali to its international disputes and investigations practice, and  took on Addleshaw Goddard’s Leona Ahmed for its international real estate group. 

Other notable developments under Gleghorn’s watch include expansion into the Middle East, such as the 2022 hire of Abdullah Mutawi from Al Tamimi to head its MENA corporate team. The firm has also strengthened its presence in Ireland with the hires of Addleshaws finance and projects head Libby Garvey and DWF real estate partner Órlaith Molloy in Dublin.

‘Our partners believe that achieving scale – while maintaining high profitability – across the major markets is necessary to succeed to be amongst the leading global firms in our key sectors and practice areas. We are going to be very busy growing, which makes it a business that is filled with interest and opportunities for our leaders.’  

Iberia has also been a key focus for Gleghorn, with last year’s strategic alliance with Madrid-based ECIJA which has a large network of offices across Latin America and the Iberian peninsula – serving as a key step forward.

‘It has opened a lot of doors for both firms,’ he said. ‘It has enabled us to pitch together for several mandates that, perhaps, a few years ago would not have been available to either firm. We are delighted with the client reaction to having that wider expertise in Iberia and Latin America more seamlessly available to them.’ 

On the possibility of a fourth term in leadership, Gleghorn commented: ‘If you ask me now, do I enjoy the role? That’s sort of a prerequisite for wanting to run. I love the job. It’s a privilege to be involved in the running of the business and to be involved in setting strategy with others.’ 

‘I do very much enjoy the role, but as to where my mind will be in three years, I really don’t think I can fix my speculative eye on that far forward,’ he added. 

Summing up his managerial style in three words, he describes himself as ‘ambitious, consultative and strategic’. 

Gleghorn remains actively involved in global client programmes, dedicating much of his time to engaging with GCs and C-suite executives, organising forums to bring clients together. 

He describes balancing his managerial responsibilities with client-facing work in the litigation practice as ‘challenging’.

‘I have made a concerted effort to keep client connectivity a priority,’ he adds. ‘This is essential for continuous improvement in our business.’ 

For more on Shane Gleghorn’s background and approach to leadership, see this Life During Law interview from 2019.

 elisha.juttla@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

‘Ambition remains high’: Taylor Wessing heads towards €1bn target with strong financials

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Financial results Taylor Wessing

Taylor Wessing has become the latest firm to announce solid results for 2023-24, revealing a 9.5% increase in global revenue to £480.7m. 

The firm has grown more rapidly this year than the previous, when revenues rose 4%. UK revenue increased by 8.6% to £246.6m, up from of £227.1m. 

UK profit also saw a 12.2% rise to £91.7m, up from last year’s £87.1m. While the firm did not disclose certain figures, PEP is estimated to be around £915,000, a 13.2% increase from £809,000. 

Managing partner Shane Gleghorn (pictured) told Legal Business: ‘We’re very pleased with the growth at an international level across the firm. We saw good growth across Europe, particularly in Germany and France, and in Ireland the Middle East as well.’ 

Last year marked the launch of Taylor Wessing’s latest three-year strategy, following the introduction of its previous strategy in 2020.  

One year in, Gleghorn commented: ‘We’ve had a really good start to that three-year strategy. The budgeted growth we saw anticipated and expected, so we’re pleased with that.

‘Ambition of our business remains very high, and that was very clear from the outset of our partner conference we had a month ago, where all of the partners were very much committed to the objectives we’ve set ourselves with that plan.’ 

Gleghorn pointed to growth in the firm’s IP offering, after telling LB last year that the plan is to create a holistic IP offering across Europe.  

‘You can see that growth that we anticipated in relation to IP has manifested itself,’ explained Gleghorn, highlighting that the firm has won leading mandates representing medical device and health care company Abbott and pharma giant Pfizer in IP litigation around the globe. 

Discussing which practice areas had made the greater contribution to growth, Gleghorn summarised: ‘Our corporate and fundraising teams had robust years in what have been flatter markets. We’ve seen excellent growth in our disputes practice, and brands and advertising have also been very strong for us. Patents and innovation are another area, with clients like Abbott and Pfizer, which has been keen to our growth.’ 

Since the beginning of 2023, the firm has hired 26 lateral partners across the globe including most recently welcoming partner ex-RPC partner Parham Kouchikali to its international disputes and investigations practice in London. ‘Investment into lateral growth has been a long running plan and has really played through for us,’ said Gleghorn. 

Looking ahead, the firm is aiming to hit the ambitious benchmark of €1bn (£840m) in revenue by 2028-29, which would mark a 78% increase from its current revenue of €562m. 

Gleghorn said: ‘We have a good track record in achieving our objectives in relation to revenue growth in a sustained and managed way, so we have confidence in that aspect of how we grow. The UK practice has grown by 57% in the five years, so we know how to achieve sustained growth organically.’ 

‘We also know that growth in the business will come from inorganic changes through laterals and bolt-on acquisitions, and growth of our verein model to achieve that objective.’ 

Gleghorn ruled out any potential mergers in the near future, explaining that the firm will concentrate on expanding its verein through geographic growth. 

‘We have ambitions to grow in relation to Iberia, Italy and Benelux, and are looking carefully at other jurisdictions,’ he added. 

When asked about the firm’s strategy in the US, where it has bases in New York and San Francisco, Gleghorn responded: ‘We continue to focus on acting for a significant amount of inbound US capital. We bring our direct approach to US clients, and our strategy is to increase year on year the amount of work we do for US companies coming into Europe.’ 

Legal Business

M&A Yearbook: Foreword – Taylor Wessing: Blue skies ahead

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After two subdued years, global M&A activity is showing signs of recovery. Though large-ticket M&A and private equity deals have been suppressed, Q1 2024 recorded the highest number of large deals per quarter in nearly 24 months1.

Legal Business

AI spy: avoiding bad AI investments

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M&A Taylor Wessing

In the wake of recent advances in generative artificial intelligence (AI), AI has shot to the top of the board agenda. No one wants to miss out on this transformative technology – but businesses need to ensure FOMO doesn’t lead to bad investments. Jonny Bethell and Jo Joyce of Taylor Wessing explore the potential pitfalls to avoid in AI acquisitions

Legal Business

Getting exit ready

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M&A Taylor Wessing

Multiple signs are pointing to an increasing momentum around M&A activity. If you’ve been holding out for better conditions to sell your business, now is the time to make sure you’re exit ready. Taylor Wessing’s Emma Danks, Suzy Davis and Siobhán Langwade outline key areas of focus and practical matters

Legal Business

Sponsored briefing: The influence of diversity in M&A

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M&A Taylor Wessing

Emma Danks, partner and co-head of Taylor Wessing’s international corporate group shares her experience on how the M&A industry has evolved, the greater awareness of diversity and inclusion in private equity and the rising profile of female founders in the venture capital world

The three areas of M&A, private equity and venture capital are typically perceived as being among the toughest working cultures and one of the most competitive industries in the business world. With the client base being historically predominantly male, there was a perception that it was more difficult for new talent, and more diverse talent, to break through.

Legal Business

Financials 2022/23: Taylor Wessing sustains global growth for fifth year in a row

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Financial results 2022/23 Taylor Wessing

With the financial reporting season in full swing, Taylor Wessing has unveiled its latest results, becoming a €500m firm for the first time.

The firm experienced slower growth compared to the previous season, as it did not achieve double-digit growth as it did in 2021/2022. The firm saw a 4% increase in global revenue to £439m in this year’s financial results, up from £420.6m last year, which its highest recorded international revenue to date.

It witnessed a similar increase in UK revenue, which went up 4% to reach £227.1m, surpassing the figure of £219.3m reported for the 2021/2022 period.

UK profit, however, dropped by 12% from £93m to £87.1m, but it is still the second highest on record for the firm. The firm did not disclose some figures, but PEP is estimated to be £809,000 and RPL in excess of £500,000.

UK managing partner Shane Gleghorn (pictured) told Legal Business: ‘We’re delighted to see growth in both the UK business and international business. We’re very pleased we managed to maintain growth in those circumstances where the markets, certainly in the UK, were more muted in relation to fundraising and corporate work.’

Talking about the latest developments, he continued: ‘We’ve got big investment in our new premises in London, and we’ve moved into new premises in Cambridge and Dublin. There’s been quite a lot of lateral hiring and promotions taking place, particularly across London, Dubai and Dublin. We’ve been growing out our IP offering and broadly speaking, the plan is to create a holistic IP offering across Europe. We’ve started to implement that, and it has been a very significant point of investment for us.’

This year marked the launch of Taylor Wessing’s latest three-year strategy, following the introduction of its previous strategy in 2020, which Gleghorn said resulted in significant revenue growth in the UK, increasing from approximately £157m to over £227m, a growth rate of 44%. Additionally, global revenue also increased from around £365m to approximately £438m, a growth rate of over 20%.

Commenting on the fall in UK profit this year, Gleghorn said: ‘We do anticipate that the profit will improve next year, but it wasn’t an unexpected turn of events for the profit to be flat at this year. We anticipated that the market would be slower in some of our core areas. We are very confident about our profit position because, when you view it in the context of the preceding two years of growth, it is still the second-highest profit that we have ever earned.’

Discussing which practice areas had made the greater contribution, he continued: ‘It’s fair to say it was across the board contributions. In London, patents, private equity, private client, disputes work, and employment have all had strong years. Tech and life sciences have also had a strong year, but there’s no doubt that the second half of the financial year was more challenging for most firms who focus on that area.’

elisha.juttla@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

International round-up: Morgan Lewis opens second German office as Taylor Wessing welcomes new Ireland partners

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Morgan Lewis is to open a Munich office with a team of 20 lawyers from Shearman & Sterling, in what are the latest departures from Shearman as its merger talks with Hogan Lovells collapsed. Morgan Lewis’s new transactional and regulatory team will focus on M&A, private equity, finance and tax.

Partners Florian Harder, Florian Zielger and Jann Jetter will lead the Munich office. Harder, head of  Shearman’s German office, will be Morgan Lewis’ Munich managing partner. He has represented international corporates, strategic investors and private equity firms on M&A transactions for German and cross-border deals.  Ziegler is a leveraged finance partner, concentrating on both German and cross-border leveraged finance transactions, while Jetter leads the tax advisory practice, which has a focus on post-deal reorganisations and integrations, as well as tax-orientated structuring of private equity funds and private equity transactions.

The firm already has a Frankfurt presence, with over 20 lawyers practising across the manufacturing, energy, technology, life sciences, financial services, and automotive services sectors. Its Frankfurt office dispute resolution team is ranked in tier 4 in the latest Legal 500 EMEA guide, with key clients including Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Tschechische Republik and Hamburg Commercial.

Firm chair Jami McKeon said: ‘Germany is one of the most significant legal markets in Europe, and its importance is only growing’. She added: ‘Having two offices in Germany expands our broad global corporate practice and will further position us as an elite legal service provider and strategic partner for our clients in Germany and around the world.’

Managing partner Steven Wall said: ‘Munich is a dynamic hub with strategic importance to several industry sectors including private equity, infrastructure, energy, life sciences, and technology, and presents strong opportunities with intellectual property given that Munich is where the European Patent Office is headquartered.’

The firm felt that now was the right time to establish a Munich presence due to the expertise offered by the Shearman team. McKeon commented: ‘We have diligently eyed this market for some time to find the right high-calibre team that builds on our existing practice while adding to our strong culture of collaboration. We anticipate that the entire office, including the business professional team, will join us -enabling our new Munich office to operate at full speed on day one.’

Meanwhile, In Ireland, Taylor Wessing has hired two new partners to expand its finance and real estate offerings. Libby Garvey and Órlaith Molloy will be joining the firm’s Dublin office.

Legal 500 Hall of Fame-ranked Garvey is the former head of finance and projects at Addleshaw Goddard. Her clients include Irish and international banks and financial institutions who she advises on acquisition financing and bilateral and syndicated facilities.  Molloy moves from DWF, where she was head of real estate in Ireland and specialises in high-value commercial real estate, including retail, hotel, offices, and logistic centres.

Adam Griffiths, partner and head of Taylor Wessing’s Dublin office said: ‘Growing our team of international experts on the ground in Dublin is hugely valuable to our clients, including private equity sponsors and corporates pursuing M&A opportunities. Banking & finance and real estate are areas core to our growth plans, and we couldn’t have hired more credible leaders than Libby and Órlaith. They are both extremely well connected in the Irish ecosystem and will elevate our reputation for supporting clients through our specialist sector expertise, including with respect to technology, life sciences, healthcare, real estate, energy and infrastructure.’

Managing partner Shane Gleghorn added: ‘We are delighted that our team in Ireland is growing in a way that supports the needs of our clients. These two hires create a strong offering that matches our client demand. Libby is a senior banking and finance lawyer with a significant deal of experience, including in the real estate sector. Órlaith is equally well regarded as a specialist in commercial and corporate real estate. We are seeing increasing demand from our clients in relation to the Irish market, and these two hires are a significant step towards building a team that covers the key sector strengths of Taylor Wessing.’

holly.mckechnie@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

‘We share strategy, values and corporate culture’: Taylor Wessing seals strategic alliance with Spain’s ECIJA

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Iberia Taylor Wessing

Taylor Wessing is expanding its global TMT offering  in Spain and Latin America through a new strategic alliance with Madrid-based ECIJA.

Announced today (7 March), the alliance ‘is in response to the continued investment, innovation and expansion of TMT and life sciences companies worldwide’.

In a statement, the firm said that the alliance consolidates its international offerings in both the technology, media and communications (TMC) and life science & healthcare sectors. Olaf Kranz, Germany managing partner and co-chair of the global board, said: ‘Like ours, ECIJA’s strategy is focused on representing our clients and creating opportunities for them in the major technology and life science hubs around the world. ECIJA’s success and trajectory is impressive and there has always been clear alignment with our values and symmetry across our strategic areas of focus.’

 ECIJA is an established Spanish firm, providing a particularly strong offering in data privacy and data protection, and TMT, with the firm ranked in Tier 1 in both areas in the latest Legal 500 EMEA guide. Key clients in these sectors include McDonald’s, Santander and Microsoft.

The firm has  offices in Spain, and across Latin America, including Brazil, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, and Ecuador. Through their alliance, the two firms will be able to offer a combined network of 62 offices across 33 jurisdictions worldwide, with over 3,000 professionals, and 500 partners.

Shane Gleghorn (pictured), Taylor Wessing UK managing partner and co-chair of the global board said: ‘The Iberian Peninsula is an important region for our clients and their business growth. Widening our European offering to encompass each of the Euro 5 is part of our strategy to support clients in our core sectors and practice areas. We are delighted, therefore, that this alliance enables us to expand our client relationships by providing specialist expertise and excellence across the countries where our clients are investing.’

ECIJA managing partner Alejandro Touriño added: ‘We identify a huge opportunity in approaching the market together, creating a worldwide leading powerhouse in TMT. In Taylor Wessing we have found a partner with whom we share strategy, values and corporate culture.’

Taylor Wessing, a top 25 LB100 firm, saw its revenue increase by 13% last year to £420.6m, while profit per equity partner (PEP) rose 17% to £800,000.

holly.mckechnie@legalease.co.uk