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Freshfields US revenues rise 26% as firm breaks £2bn mark for first time

Revenue at Freshfields rose to more than £2bn for the first time in 2023-24, the firm’s newly released LLP accounts have confirmed, following the decision to stop releasing financial information in line with its UK-headquartered peers.

The accounts, filed with Companies House, show significant growth in revenue and operating profit, although profit available for discretionary division dropped by 9% after a change to accounting procedures meant previous year’s figures were restated. Continue reading “Freshfields US revenues rise 26% as firm breaks £2bn mark for first time”

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Money’s worth: how do clients rate Ashurst’s value proposition?

Ashurst

Value: Billing and efficiency

76.09

Billing transparency 75.01

Billing: value for work done 75.09

Communication & case/matter management 80.95

All scores are global and /100.

Of all of the factors involved in client satisfaction, value for money is among the most important, not least for GCs under pressure to keep a lid on their legal spend.

And while the best law firms do not come cheap, a reputation for providing value can be a clincher when it comes to winning work.

In our previous data blogs, we’ve looked at how top firms stack up against each other for the quality of their lawyers – based on the views of their clients – but that is just one of a range of metrics we can benchmark firms on.

The responses from hundreds of thousands of Legal 500 referees that we receive every year offer detailed insight into how firms compare on billing and efficiency, and by taking Ashurst as an example, the data reveals how clients view the firm’s value proposition.

(The rest of this article is available to logged-in users only. If you are not logged in and unable to do so above, please click ‘Forgot your password?’ below to gain access to the full article). Continue reading “Money’s worth: how do clients rate Ashurst’s value proposition?”

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‘A well-kept secret’ – inside Covington’s City corporate push

While other flashier US firms might attract more headlines for their London growth strategies, Covington & Burling has for some time been building up a sizeable presence in the capital.

Over the last decade, the firm’s City base – which dates back to 1988 – has grown its headcount by around 50%, and is now home to around 140 lawyers.

And 2024 saw the firm make bold steps in the City corporate market with a trio of high-profile lateral hires from Sidley Austin – M&A partner Phil Cheveley, private equity partner Lyndsey Laverack and private equity real estate partner Jade Williams-Adedeji.

‘Covington has always wished to keep the focus on the great work of its clients and shied away from publicity for its own sake,’ said Laverack. ‘The firm is a bit of a well-kept secret, notwithstanding the fact that we’ve been in London for nearly 40 years.’

Other major City hires last year included the addition of Adrian Chiodo from Paul Hastings to lead the firm’s European leveraged finance practice – and the firm’s growth in London is far from over, according to Washington DC-based corporate head Catherine Dargan.

‘We have been investing in London for some time, and we expect that to continue,’ explained Dargan. ‘We remain committed to strategically identifying and pursuing lateral hires and are always open to opportunistic additions. However, we are not focused on growth for growth’s sake. We are eager to grow in London, but we are determined to do it the right way.’ 

The firm’s most recent hire, Cheveley, who joined in November, brings a wealth of experience from firms including legacy Shearman & Sterling, where he served as EMEA and Asia M&A head, and Travers Smith, where he spent 17 years and was head of corporate M&A and equity capital markets.

Cheveley described Covington as an ‘excellent fit’ for his practice, emphasising the firm’s focus on healthcare and life sciences – for which it has a top-tier London practice – as well as technology and financial services. ‘Covington already has a strong M&A practice in London, but the opportunity is there to further deepen the bench strength,’ he said. 

‘The firm has excellent relationships with marquee clients globally, and there’s huge potential to further leverage and enhance those relationships to win increased volumes of transactional mandates from them.’ 

Cheveley’s arrival was preceded by Laverack and Williams-Adedeji also making the move from Sidley in July, and he described being reunited with his former colleagues as ‘a very happy coincidence’.

‘I’ve known Covington for quite a number of years; over time, we had some high-level discussions, but things fell into place shortly after Lyndsey and Jade – people I’ve always enjoyed working with – decided to move. My decision, however, was almost entirely independent of their move.’

The hires take lawyer count in Covington’s London corporate practice to more than 60, sitting in a global team of approximately 330.

The lateral investment investment comes amid a broader pickup in M&A activity, which Cheveley expects to continue, driven by favourable financing, emerging alternative capital, potential US tax cuts, and a shift toward lighter regulations and more deal-friendly merger controls. 

However, he cautioned: ‘There is naturally uncertainty around what form these reforms will take and the impact they will have. This uncertainty, coupled with the fundamental frailty of a number of national economies, would suggest that the return to high levels of M&A activity remains some way off, with only a modest improvement in the early part of 2025 as the new transacting landscape is established.’ 

Across private equity, Laverack noted that digital infrastructure and renewable energy are key areas of focus. She added: ‘We also expect to see continued investment in the fintech area, specifically in payments and money transmission, and increasing use of crypto currencies on those platforms. We are [also] still seeing strong interest in senior living and other living sectors.’ 

As for the recent wave of lateral moves at other firms, Dargan argued that some of these moves are ‘more defensive than offensive’, and that Covington’s all-equity partnership is a clear differentiator when looking to attract talent.

‘Globally, there is significant movement among firms, with lawyers seeking different platforms or higher compensation. We are fortunate to operate with a single-tier partnership, which means laterals are joining us primarily for the value we offer – our platform, culture, relationships, and broader expertise.’ 

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Revolving Doors: Linklaters recruits New York team while Clifford Chance and Akin make key hires

Leading the high-profile moves this week, Linklaters has continued its US expansion with the hire of a four-partner litigation team from New York litigation boutique Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler. 

Adeel Mangi, Muhammad Faridi, Diana Conner and George LoBiondo are set to join the firm as it continues to pursue its strategy of growing in the US by recruiting key laterals. 

Mangi is an experienced trial lawyer with highlights including securing the largest settlement with New York state in history in cases involving the death of a state prison inmate and the largest jury verdict ($2bn) in the history of the Virginia court system. 

The firm laid down a statement of intent in the US January last year when it added an M&A team led by Legal 500 Hall of Fame for $1bn+ M&A deals George Casey.  In October, it hired  a four-partner finance team from A&O Shearman including former global co-head of A&O Shearman’s financial markets practice David Lucking to join its New York office. 

Aedamar Comiskey, Linklaters’ senior partner and chair said in a statement: ‘Growing in the US is a key strategic priority. We’re focusing on top-of-the market lawyers and Adeel, Muhammad, Diana and George are certainly that. Their exceptional trial and commercial litigation expertise will be a terrific addition to our leading global litigation team.’ 

Back in London, Akin has hired Natasha Kaye from Cooley as a tax partner in London. Kaye has spent nine years at Cooley and brings experience advising on a variety of transactions including cross-border and domestic M&A, equity capital markets, reorganisations and restructuring. 

She will be reunited with her former Cooley colleagues who made the move to Akin last July.  London managing partner Justin Stock moved to the firm alongside Stephen Rosen, a Legal 500 Hall of Famer for mid-market private equity transactions who headed Cooley’s London corporate practice, and technology transactions partner David Bresnick. 

Also in the City, Morgan Lewis has hired antitrust partner Paul Johnson and structured finance partner Dasha Sobornova to join its London office from Baker McKenzie and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, respectively. 

Johnson has joined after 10 years at Bakers’ Brussels office. He spent seven months at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and 10 years at legacy Berwin Leighton Paisner. He has experience in a range of EU and UK competition matters. 

Sobornova advises on an array of UK-and EU-related securitization and structured finance work, with a focus on collateralized loan obligation (CLO) transactions. She joined after just under three years at Akin Gump and has previously had spells at Mayer Brown, Paul Hastings and Ashurst. 

The pair arrive after a flurry of recent additions with the firm welcoming IP partners Tim Powell and Hiroshi Sheraton, life sciences M&A partner Ted Craig to its London office in recent months. The firm also added a 54-lawyer Kramer Levin team to its Paris office in December. 

Elsewhere in London, Clifford Chance has bolstered its global private capital team with the addition of Emma Ghaffari who joins as a partner in a vertical move from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom where she held the title of European counsel. 

Ghaffari will reunite with her former colleague, M&A expert Bruce Embley, who moved to CC from Skadden earlier this month. She joins after a year and a half at Skadden, having previously spent time at legacy Allen & Overy and Eversheds Sutherland in Dubai, Freshfields in London and White & Case in Stockholm. 

Clifford Chance’s global private capital team also recently welcomed London fund finance partners Aimee Sharman, and Matt Lilley from Mayer Brown in January, and private equity partner David Schultz and restructuring partner Matthew Hinker from O’Melveny & Myers in New York in October.  

Squire Patton Boggs has welcomed trade finance partners Philip Prowse and Jameel Tarmohamed to its financial services practice in London. The pair have joined from Stephenson Harwood, where they worked for three years, having previously worked together at HFW. 

Jim Barresi, global head of the firm’s financial services group said in a statement: ‘Philip and Jameel add considerable expertise to our international team. Their transactional work for financial institutions, development banks and traders is substantial.’ 

McDermott Will & Emery has hired international arbitration partner Milo Molfa to join its London office from Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle. Molfa advises on international commercial arbitrations and investor-state disputes under public international law. He represents corporations and sovereigns in international arbitration proceedings across industries including aviation, automotive and energy. 

This announcement comes in the same week as the departure of the firm’s former London head Hamid Yunis, who is set to join Pillsbury after more than eight and a half years at the Chicago-headquartered firm.  

McDermott also experienced departures in Germany, after Greenberg Traurig raided the firm for a four-lawyer team led by corporate partner Björn Biehl, along with a local partner, and two associates, to open its Munich office next month.

Greenberg’s Munich launch also includes a four-lawyer team from boutique firm Ehlers led by partner Christian Rybak, who will serve as the firm’s chair of healthcare and life sciences in Germany. Stephen Rau, who left McDermott in November, will serve as the office managing partner and chair of Greenberg’s European health care practice. 

Back in London, White & Case has hired tax partner Catherine Hill from Latham & Watkins in a vertical move. Hill has joined after two years as a tax associate at Latham. Prior to that, she spent nine years at Macfarlanes.  

Philadelphia-bred Faegre Drinker has hired financial services regulatory partner Steven Francis from Addleshaw Goddard. 

Francis has become the firm’s 13th London partner, according to its website. He has joined after six years at Addleshaw Goddard and was previously associate partner at EY and a partner at Baker McKenzie and RPC.  He regularly represents clients before the FCA and the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority. 

DAC Beachcroft has tapped Clyde & Co for London aviation partner Maria Cetta. She has made the move after 25 years at Clyde & Co during which time she gained experience in handling major aviation losses, most recently advising on the Ukrainian International Airlines loss in January 2020. 

In Paris, BCLP has hired a three-lawyer financial regulation and asset management team from Lacourte Raquin Tatar led by partner Damien Luqué.  Luqué has experience in advising clients on investment vehicle structures. 

Over in Ireland, Bird & Bird has hired employment partner Susan Battye as head of its Ireland employment practice. Before joining Bird & Bird, Battye founded and led the employment team at Walkers in Ireland, working there for just under six years. 

Finally, in Washington DC, Kemal Hawa has joined Kirkland & Ellis as a partner in the corporate practice group with a focus on digital infrastructure. He has joined after spending 12 years as a partner at Greenberg Traurig and was also a partner at Mintz Levin. 

[email protected]

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Ex-RPC chief joins relaunched Rosenblatt as listed parent company calls in administrators

A 40-strong team has broken away from RBG Legal Services to relaunch Rosenblatt as an independent firm, as its listed parent company RBG Holding Group – which also owns City law firm Memery Crystal – prepares for administration.

The group relaunching Rosenblatt, led by name partner Ian Rosenblatt, has also recruited former RPC managing partner Jonathan Watmough, who is returning to law firm management after an eight-year hiatus with a new role as chair of the City disputes firm.

Continue reading “Ex-RPC chief joins relaunched Rosenblatt as listed parent company calls in administrators”

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The silk class of 2025: ten names to note

The King’s Counsel system remains the most prized designation for elite advocates in the world. One hundred and five lawyers – 104 barristers and one solicitor – were selected from the 2024 process, the results of which were announced last week.

The overwhelming majority of the new silks are already ranked very highly within their practice areas in Legal 500, and it would be a fool’s errand to try to pick a ‘best of’ for that reason, but here are ten of the designees who illustrate the broad range of talent in their professions today, as well as the broad scope it covers. 

Adam Wagner, Doughty Street Chambers 

Doughty Street Chambers is the set with the largest number of members parading to Westminster Hall, with five in the 2025 cohort, a distinction shared with Essex Court Chambers. Notable for being one of the most prominent barristers on X (formerlyTwitter) since the 2010s – a time in which, at a previous chambers, he was a founder of UK Human Rights Blog – Wagner was one of the most visible commentators on the mechanics of the lockdown policies created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the pandemic, of late he is notable for representing pro bono the families of British-linked hostages who were kidnapped as part of the October 7th terrorist attack on Israel, including that of UK-Israel dual national Emily Damari, who was released by Hamas earlier this month. 

Laura Poots, Pump Court Tax Chambers 

A natural candidate for silk as winner of tax junior of the year at the 2024 Legal 500 Bar awards, Poots is ranked tier 1 for the tax: corporate section as well as also being ranked for tax: personal and tax: VAT and excise. Recent cases of note include representing HM Revenue and Customs in the Court of Appeal in a dispute with hedge fund BlueCrest Capital Management. A more unusual instruction in her career was her – unled – 2022 role representing the Falkland Islands’ Commissioner of Taxation in that jurisdiction’s Court of Appeal in a case regarding its tax “ring-fencing” of petroleum extraction activities. Poots is not the only female tax barrister being recognised in this round, with Marika Lemos of Devereux Chambers also appointed. 

James Berry, Serjeants’ Inn Chambers 

In a career punctuated by a two-year stint as Member of Parliament for Kingston and Surbiton – defeating, and then losing his seat to, current Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey – James Berry’s return to the Bar has borne fruit, having earnt silk the hard way through the conventional appointment process rather than as a political “nylon” (the colloquial term for a junior given the designation as a result of a political appointment). He is ranked as a top-tier junior in Legal 500’s police law (forces and constables) section on the strength of his practice representing both forces and officers – earning him the award for public services and charities junior of the year at the Legal 500 UK Bar Awards 2024. His recent work includes representing the Metropolitan Police in disciplinary proceedings against the former head of the Metropolitan Black Police Association, who was found to have shared racist messages in a WhatsApp group. 

Julia Smyth, Landmark Chambers 

Smyth, the 2024 Legal 500 Bar awards immigration junior of the year, is notable for her public law practice, focusing on immigration, nationality and the welfare state. Formerly in-house government lawyer, she represents Child Poverty Action Group, a core participant in the economics module of the Covid-19 inquiry. However, much of her notable work of late has been in the immigration and nationality space, regularly representing the government in the Court of Appeal. In one recent case, she represented the government, defeating an appeal by an Albanian man who fraudulently applied for British citizenship under a false name and date of birth, also claiming to be Kosovar, against the decision to strip him of his British citizenship. The set – which dominates planning law as well as being notable – has four appointees this year – its record. 

Edward Craven, Matrix Chambers 

In a diverse practice illustrated by ranking in nine Legal 500 practice areas, Edward Craven is best known for cases at the interaction of human rights, technology and business. In 2024, he was a lead junior in the case of a number of Nepali and Bangladeshi migrant workers, who were found to be able to bring their claim against Dyson, for alleged human trafficking it its Malaysian supply chain, in the English courts – his work in this space playing a key role in securing him the title of group litigation junior of the year at the 2024 Legal 500 Bar awards. Regarding AI, he also represented the defendant in Andrew Prismall v Google UK Limited, securing a strike-out of a claim over the Royal Free Hospital’s co-operation with Sir Demis Hassabis’ Google Deepmind to detect and treat acute kidney injury. Other work includes sports and financial crime cases. 

Nakul Dewan, Twenty Essex 

Already a notable senior lawyer on the international arbitration circuit, Nakul Dewan adds English silk to a career which has seen him designated as a Senior Advocate in 2019 by the Supreme Court of India. He is already ranked as a tier one leading Silk in Legal 500 Asia Pacific’s Regional International Arbitration: the Bar coverage, on the strength of his Indian designation. Dewan is active both as counsel and arbitrator across a range of commercial and energy disputes, and is one of the small but growing cohort of English barristers primarily based in Singapore. He follows in the footsteps of Harish Salve KC of Blackstone Chambers, who has dual designation both in India (in 1992) and England (2020). 

Jacqueline Renton, 4PB 

Ranked in the top tier for family: children and domestic abuse in Legal 500, Jacqueline Renton is notable for her practice in private international law in the family context. Many of her cases concern the Hague Convention 1980, including 77 reported cases, 16  Court of Appeal cases and six appeals to the UK Supreme Court. Recently, she – pro bono – represented the father of a fifteen-year-old in 2024 Court of Appeal case Re P, in which the child sought to stay in the United Kingdom with his Spanish father, against the wishes of the child’s mother, who sought a Hague Convention return order. 

Niranjan Venkatesan, One Essex Court 

As victor of junior of the year at the 2023 Legal 500 Bar Awards, Niranjan Venkatesan’s name is an unsurprising feature of this year’s list of appointments. While also called to the Indian Bar – in an appointment round with several selections showcasing the English legal profession’s links to the world’s largest common law jurisdiction – his practice is no means defined by those connections, having appeared across a varied range of large cases in the Commercial Court and International arbitration, such as having appeared as a leading junior for the defendants in the Invest Bank v El-Husseini litigation. 

Daniel Feetham KC, 3 Hare Court and Hassans 

One may think that Legal Business has committed a typographical error, or worse, a major blunder in protocol, by including Feetham KC’s postnominals prior to this year’s ceremony in Westminster Hall. Not so: he already has the designation in respect of Gibraltar, the jurisdiction in which he was born, raised and built his career in private practice, rising to role of head of litigation at market-leading firm Hassans. He adds English silk to his CV, having become a full member of London set 3 Hare Court in 2023. In politics, he served as Minister of Justice from 2007 to 2011 among other roles in the British Overseas Territory. 

Jason Pobjoy, Blackstone Chambers 

Jason Pobjoy has a diverse practice, covering both public law and commercial cases. In public law, he is known for his work for the claimants in the litigation over the government’s proposal to relocate asylum seekers to Rwanda, and for the Duke of Sussex in the judicial review surrounding his security arrangements, as well as for the Government Legal Department in Russian sanctions cases, such as those concerning ex-Formula One driver (and son of oligarch Dimitry) Nikita Mazepin. Of late, he represented Elliott Management in an appeal of its judicial review of the London Metal Exchange’s decision to suspend trading in nickel futures in March 2022, after a price spike which – if the trades stood – would have left LME members on the hook for a $20bn margin call. In late 2024, in a now-unusual case for an English barrister to take on post-Brexit, instructed by Carter-Ruck he successfully represented a Moldovan client in a judicial review.

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‘Every lawyer has a role to play in sustainability’- Clydes’ Wynne Lawrence on ESG legal pathways

Clyde & Co’s Wynne Lawrence, who was recently named as one of Legal 500’s new UK Green Ambassadors, is a founding member of the firm’s climate risk and resilience practice group. In this Q&A, she discusses the genesis of her professional interest in climate change, building a team of ESG rising stars, and how junior lawyers can make a difference Continue reading “‘Every lawyer has a role to play in sustainability’- Clydes’ Wynne Lawrence on ESG legal pathways”

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Putting a number on it – how do clients rate Slaughter and May?

Slaughter and May office

Late last year, Legal Business and Legal 500 unveiled a data project that has been in the works for some time – looking at how highly firms are recommended by clients.

That data, collected from Legal 500 referees, offers an entirely new perspective on the world’s largest law firms, enabling us to reorder the Global 100 by a new customer satisfaction metric – Net Promoter Score (NPS)*.

Of the eighteen UK-heritage firms in the Global 100, the firm with the highest NPS is Slaughter and May (and we will be revealing NPS for the LB100 very soon) but NPS is not the only metric we have data for – we also ask referees to score law firms on metrics such as billing, communication and value for money

So while Slaughters comes highly recommended by clients – how does it compare to its peers on criteria such as partner and associate quality and availability?

(The rest of this article is available to logged-in users only. If you are not logged in and unable to do so above, please click ‘Forgot your password?’ below to gain access to the full article). Continue reading “Putting a number on it – how do clients rate Slaughter and May?”

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Revolving doors: Skadden and Goodwin launch new offices as Weil and Clifford Chance add key laterals

As the new year unfolds, Goodwin has launched its seventh European office in Brussels, hiring antitrust partner Stephen Mavroghenis from Quinn Emanuel. He was previously head of then-Shearman & Sterling’s Brussels office and co-head of its global antitrust group.  

Continue reading “Revolving doors: Skadden and Goodwin launch new offices as Weil and Clifford Chance add key laterals”