Latham & Watkins and William H Voge are fortunate in one regard. The looking-glass glaze that appears when law firms are embroiled in newspaper-selling scandal typically inflates status to make a so-so story look better. ‘Top lawyer involved in….’ stories usually translates as ‘someone you’ve never heard of at a mid-tier firm you rarely think about’.
In this case, Latham benefits that the significance of the departure of Voge is so strong in the industry that general coverage will inevitably underplay it. With respect to the Magic Circle, for years now Latham has been firmly established as the world’s most influential and potent global law firm. That status was underlined earlier this year when the world’s highest-billing legal practice became the first to cross the $3bn mark, a distinction that only a few years back a London-bred law firm looked certain to achieve.
