Hogan Lovells has secured a new role as adviser to the UK government on the £3.6bn acquisition of International Distribution Services (IDS), the parent company of Royal Mail, by Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský’s EP Group, alongside Kirkland, Paul Weiss, and Slaughter and May. Continue reading “Hogan Lovells joins top firms in £3.6bn Royal Mail takeover as UK govt approves bid”
The LB100 results for 2023-24 are in, and while the demise of the mid-market has been long forecast, the numbers suggest it’s a good time to be a medium-sized law firm.
With average revenue growth of 10%, this firms in the 51-100 bracket are well up on last year’s equivalent performance of 6% and keeping pace with the overall average, while they are also are outpacing the top 20, which this year saw average growth of 8%.
The UK’s 100 largest law firms increased profit per equity partner (PEP) by an average of 13% during the last financial year, with near across-the-board hikes coming despite the rising costs of associate salaries.
On the back of double-digit revenue growth for more than half of the LB100 during 2023-24, average PEP rose to £844,000 after profitability had remained effectively flat during 2022-23.
Profit per lawyer (PPL) was also up, from an average of £100,800 last year to £116,200 this year – an increase of over 15%.
Clifford Chance has named employment partner Chinwe Odimba-Chapman as its new London managing partner, succeeding Michael Bates.
Stepping into the role as of 1 January, Odimba-Chapman (pictured) will be CC’s first black London managing partner. She currently serves as the firm’s global people and talent partner.
Bates, who is a Legal 500 Hall of Famer for corporate M&A, is stepping down at the end of this year after seven years in the post and moving back into a fee-earning role.
CC lifer Odimba-Chapman joined the firm in 2002 and became a partner in 2018. Her practice focuses on advising global clients on a wide range of employment law issues on a cross-border basis.
Global managing partner Charles Adams said: ‘I would like to congratulate Chinwe on her new role and would like to again thank Michael for successfully leading our UK business for seven years to its current strong and market-leading position.’
Odimba-Chapman has also been appointed as co-regional managing partner for the firm’s ‘One Europe’ region, alongside regional managing partner for continental Europe, Steve Jacoby.
Adams continued: ‘We know Europe like nobody else, with top experts in every key jurisdiction and proven strengths in working on the most complex cross-border mandates where we can have the biggest impact on our clients’ success.’
DAC Beachcroft is set to make a major step into the US market, recruiting a 30-strong group of lawyers from two firms to launch in New York and Los Angeles in January.
The firm is taking on four partners and 26 other lawyers and staff from insurance and reinsurance boutique Vogrin & Frimet and national firm Robinson+Cole.
Vogrin & Frimet is an eight-lawyer firm with offices in New York, Los Angeles and New Jersey, while Robinson+Cole is a much larger, full-service firm, with around 400 lawyers across nine US bases.
Name partners George Vogrin and Mike Frimet will join from Vogrin & Frimet with their six colleagues, while partners Lawrence Klein and Gilbert Lee will move over from Robinson+Cole, alongside 20 other lawyers and staff.
All four partners are primarily based in New York, but will spend time in California. Vogrin and Frimet specialise in insurance coverage and reinsurance matters, with particular experience representing global insurers in the London insurance market, while Klein and Lee are insurance coverage specialists, who both previously worked at Sedgwick, the US firm which closed in 2018.
In the short term, the bulk of the team will be based in New York, with the firm expecting to expand the Los Angeles office in future.
‘Continuing our international expansion is one of the key elements of our strategy,’ said David Pollitt, DACB’s managing partner (pictured).
‘Being able to establish operations in the thriving US legal market not only satisfies a key client demand within our insurance practice, but also gives potential for our clients across other areas of our business to benefit from our presence in the US market,’ he continued.
The move follows a series of international office openings for the firm. Over the past nine months, DACB has launched in Hong Kong and Peru, building on last year’s expansion into Milan, Rome, and Buenos Aires.
The firm does also have a representative office in Miami, which it opened in 2016 with the hire of business development manager Sascha Stullenberg from AIG. Since 2017, the firm has also been a member of the four-way Legalign Global alliance with three other insurance-focused law firms – Germany’s BLD Bach Langheid Dallmayr, US firm Wilson Elser, and Wotton Kearney in Australia.
DACB this year posted its tenth consecutive year of revenue growth, with a 9% increase in turnover to £326.5m. Profit before tax saw a 15% increase to £71m, while partner profits rose to £700,000, up 7% from last year’s £652,000.
Managing partner David Pollitt told LB earlier this year that the basis for the firm’s recent international strategy has been to ‘talking to clients about where they see growth and specific needs, and determining how we can support them in those areas’.
Richard Medd’s tenure as Browne Jacobson managing partner began in the spring of 2020, amid the chaos of the early months of Covid. While many would view such timing as unfortunate, Medd sees it differently: ‘Looking back, there were advantages to starting at that time. The whole world was starting again, which gave me a chance to implement my ideas.’
Continue reading “Moving up the food chain: Browne Jacobson on rapid growth and remaining inclusive”
Sidley Austin has sealed the hire of CMS TMT head Clive Gringras, a Legal 500 Hall of Famer who has spent his entire career at CMS and predecessor firms Olswang and Nabarro.
Gringras (pictured) made partner at CMS in 2000 after moving over in the tripartite merger of Olswang, Nabarro and CMS in 2017, before which he was head of technology at Olswang.
He works with some of the world’s largest companies on high-stakes matters including first‑of‑a‑kind disputes and tech-focused cross-border deals. His experience also includes representing major tech companies in regulatory investigations and litigation, as well as handling internet threat cases involving spam, phishing, tech support fraud, and business email compromise.
Yvette Ostolaza, the chair of Sidley’s management committee, noted that Gringras’ hire comes as the tech market gains momentum. ‘With regulators expanding their enforcement powers under rapidly evolving technology laws, we expect more clients to turn to Sidley’s global platform across four continents for top-tier strategic legal advice,’ she said.
London managing partner Tom Thesing added: ‘He is an exciting addition and will help meet the demands of our clients who are faced with the most complex cross-border regulatory, investigation, and transactional matters.’
Gringras is the latest in a string of hires for Sidley. Just last week, the firm welcomed partner Tania Bedi from Latham, where she co-chaired the London finance department. In October, Sidley brought on five sponsor-side leveraged finance partners, including Jayanthi Sadanandan and Sam Hamilton following their August exit from Latham, as well as high-yield partners Scott Colwell and Patrick Kwak.
And the expansion does not appear to be over. Ostolaza told LB back in October that the firm plans to expand its London office with hires in capital markets, high yield, and disputes and investigations, along with further growth in private equity.
However, the firm has also seen a number of losses this year. Restructuring co-heads Mark Knight and Jifree Cader moved to Davis Polk, while M&A partner Phil Cheveley joined Covington following the departures of Lyndsey Laverack and Jade Williams-Adedeji who left in July to join Covington & Burling’s EMEA private equity team.
In a statement, CMS thanked Gringas for his contribution to the firm’s TMT practice and wished him the best for the future.
More than half of the UK’s 100 largest law firms posted double-digit revenue increases for the last financial year, with the group bouncing back from a jittery 2022-23 to drive total turnover to a new high of £37bn.
Data collected for the latest LB100 – which spans firms from the now-£3bn DLA Piper to £40m City boutiques and regional practices – underlines what a strong year 2023-24 was for many UK law firms, despite lingering uncertainty after the previous financial year.
Following healthy 2023 results from the LB Global 100, which saw total revenues rise by more than 6%, the UK’s leading firms went even further, with an average revenue increase of 10% across the group, up from 8% last year.
Fifty-three of the 100 firms boosted turnover by a double-digit percentage – up from 34 last year – with more than 90% growing their top line, pushing combined revenues for the group from £33.8bn in 2022-23 to £37bn for the most recent financial year.
Slaughter and May corporate and M&A co-head Simon Nicholls attributed this bounceback to a recovery in transactional markets. ‘Deals were back after a lowkey 2023, and we were happy to see more than our fair share of activity. Alongside that, our disputes and antitrust practices motored on and had great years once again. We saw momentum build through the year in all key practice areas.’
Herbert Smith Freehills CEO Justin D’Agostino described 2023-24 as ‘an incredibly strong year’, while also acknowledging a point made in PwC’s recent law firm survey that the top 10 UK firms have been able to increase fees by 40% over the last five years.
‘Demand was up in every region and every practice group,’ he said. ‘There was a surge in class actions, competition disputes and transactional work. And for all firms there has also been a focus on pricing – a lot of markets have had inflationary pressures and firms have had to respond to that, which clients accept.’
The transatlantic DLA tops the table by revenue after breaking through the £3bn mark for the first time, a performance outgoing CEO Simon Levine attributed in large part to ‘standout practices focused on litigation and regulation’, as well as a more recent pickup in transactional activity.
‘You might expect some areas to have struggled, but while the transactional side was quieter, there was still plenty of activity in corporate, M&A, private equity and financing,’ said Levine, who is handing on the baton as international managing partner and global co-CEO to Charles Severs next year after a decade leading the firm.
The £3bn landmark for DLA was achieved through a 6% revenue increase, placing it slightly behind the average of 10% achieved by the group as a whole.
While double-digit growth was achieved by firms of all shapes and sizes, from the magic circle to regional players, the group that lagged slightly behind the 10% benchmark was firms with a large US footprint gained from transatlantic mergers – Eversheds Sutherland, Norton Rose Fulbright, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, DLA, Hogan Lovells and Womble Bond Dickinson.
Average revenue growth by firm category
| Firm category | Revenue growth |
|---|---|
| International firms | 11% |
| London-only firms | 11% |
| Magic circle | 11% |
| National firms | 10% |
| Regional firms | 12% |
| Transatlantic mergers | 6% |
The magic circle put in a more than respectable showing this year, with Freshfields leading the way with a 16% hike to £2.14bn. While Allen & Overy’s pre-merger revenue rise of 6% to £2.2bn was the slowest growth among that elite group, the firm will add around 30% to its top line next year with the addition of Shearman & Sterling.
There were also notably strong showings from London firms such as Kingsley Napley (17%), pensions boutique Sacker & Partners (25%) and Mishcon de Reya, which posted an 18% hike – the firm’s third consecutive year of double-digit growth – on the back of its January 2023 merger with Taylor Vinters.
‘It was a good year,’ managing partner James Libson told LB. ‘The things we wanted to achieve we achieved – the merger with Taylor Vinters was the first time we’ve ever done anything on that scale.
While many firms within the upper echelons of the LB100 are decisively looking to the US for growth, Mishcon achieved its recent successes without a presence in the States, where it closed a small New York base in 2020.
‘Obviously America is very important – we have a big client base there, and lots of people that do business there. But it’s an unbelievably well serviced market,’ Libson explained. ‘The US law firms are among our biggest allies and referrers – we do a lot of work in conjunction with them. It’s very difficult in America to establish a presence that’s meaningful in even any one area, let alone across areas.’
Top 10 LB100 firms by revenue growth
| Firm | Revenue growth |
|---|---|
| Fletchers Solicitors | 35% |
| Bond Turner | 33% |
| Burges Salmon | 27% |
| Veale Wasbrough Vizards | 26% |
| Sacker & Partners | 25% |
| Kennedys | 23% |
| Osborne Clarke | 21% |
| Birketts | 20% |
| Mishcon de Reya | 18% |
| Stevens & Bolton | 18% |
While growth was more muted among historically national firms which now have a much more international perspective, such as DLA (6%), Eversheds Sutherland (0%), Pinsent Masons (7%) and CMS (7%), opportunities are opening up for a group of well-managed UK-focused players sweeping up work from clients seeking a lower price point as bigger firms raise rates.
Of the 53 firms posting double-digit growth last year, around half were national and regional firms. East Anglia’s Birketts sits in the top 10 fastest-growing firms after its fourth consecutive year of double-digit growth on the back of recent expansion into the South East, while Browne Jacobsen (12%) and Freeths (13%), both of which have significantly expanded from their Midlands roots in recent years but are still entirely based in the British Isles, are other notably strong performers once more, on the back of double-digit hikes last year.
Freeths national managing partner Karl Jansen underlined this point. ‘Opportunities for truly national firms are as good as ever. If you’re a partner largely servicing UK clients and work, you’re increasingly going to feel tensions in a firm that has more of an international focus. Our business model is far better suited to a national or regional client base, and that’s helping us to win more clients and attract more recruits from the larger international firms, who are less focused on the national market and are increasingly pricing themselves out of those opportunities.’
‘We are certainly seeing the benefits of our strategic focus and ambitions as a leading national firm, and our continuing year-on-year growth is testament to that.’
*LB100 firms by category
Transatlantic mergers: Hogan Lovells, Womble Bond Dickinson, Norton Rose Fulbright, DLA Piper, Eversheds Sutherland, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner
Regional firms: Thorntons, Burness Paull, Brodies, Shepherd and Wedderburn, Fletchers Solicitors, Bond Turner, Veale Wasbrough Vizards, Birketts, Stevens & Bolton, Brabners, Capsticks, Michelmores, Foot Anstey, Walker Morris, JMW, Ashfords, DMH Stallard, Ward Hadaway, Cripps, RWK Goodman, Blake Morgan, Harrison Clark Rickerbys, Moore Barlow, BDB Pitmans, Hugh James
National firms: Burges Salmon, Devonshires, Keystone Law, Bevan Brittan, Mills & Reeve, gunnercooke, Ampa, Freeths, Browne Jacobson, Hill Dickinson, Weightmans, Keoghs, TLT, Taylor Rose, Irwin Mitchell, Thompsons, Shoosmiths, Gateley, Knights, Penningtons Manches Cooper, Trowers & Hamlins, Leigh Day, Clarke Willmott, Slater and Gordon
Magic circle: Freshfields, Clifford Chance, Linklaters, Slaughter and May, Allen & Overy
London firms: Sacker & Partners, Mishcon de Reya, Kingsley Napley, Lewis Silkin, Fox Williams, Wedlake Bell, Howard Kennedy, Bristows, Macfarlanes, Charles Russell Speechlys, Stewarts, Farrer & Co, RPC, Harbottle & Lewis, Travers Smith, Russell-Cooke, Forsters, Winckworth Sherwood, Fladgate, Wiggin, RBG
International firms: Kennedys, Osborne Clarke, Stephenson Harwood, DWF, Addleshaw Goddard, HFW, Watson Farley & Williams, Simmons & Simmons, Herbert Smith Freehills, Bird & Bird, Taylor Wessing, Ashurst, DAC Beachcroft, Gowling WLG, Pinsent Masons, CMS, Clyde & Co, Fieldfisher, Withers
Eversheds Sutherland‘s Irish arm is in talks to join William Fry, with discussions taking place over a deal that could see the international firm’s partners and staff in Ireland break away to join the domestic firm.
Eversheds has had a presence in the Irish market since 2005, when it secured an alliance with legacy firm O’Donnell Sweeney. It now has offices in Dublin and Belfast, under the leadership of managing partner Alan Connell.
William Fry is one of Ireland’s most prominent law firms, employing 350 legal and tax professionals, alongside a total staff of more than 500, including 79 partners.
A spokesperson for William Fry confirmed: ‘William Fry has engaged in exploratory discussions with senior representatives of Eversheds Sutherland Ireland about the prospect of their partners and staff joining William Fry LLP. Any potential transaction remains subject to the approval of both partner groups and any applicable regulatory approvals.’
In a separate statement, Eversheds Sutherland confirmed that its Irish offices are “in early stage merger discussions with William Fry”.
‘By their nature, these discussions are confidential and no further comment will be made until they have concluded,’ the statement continued.
Ireland’s appeal to global law firms continues to grow, with UK firms like Pinsent Masons, Simmons & Simmons, DLA Piper, Fieldfisher, Clyde & Co, and DAC Beachcroft opening offices in Dublin, solidifying its role as a key hub for international legal services.
News of the discussions comes after Eversheds recruited tech and IP partner David Kirton in from William Fry two months ago.
Eversheds’ Connell previously told LB in October 2023 that there would be no pullback in the scale of ambition from multinationals investing in Ireland, including tech, energy and pharma companies.
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has removed an Australian partner from the firm following an internal investigation into a social media post directed at a Jewish lawyer at another firm.
The controversy stems from a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) by corporate partner Damien Hazard referencing Jeremy Leibler, a Jewish lawyer at Australian firm Arnold Bloch Leibler. The online interactions were in relation the recent fire at Melbourne synagogue, which is being investigated as a terrorist arson attack.
According to reports in the Australian media, the post read: ‘Never too soon for @jeremyleibler to just invent a link with anti-genocide protests,’ and went on to accuse Leibler of ‘cynically politicising this crime’ and sowing a ‘life long disinformation campaign’ conflating the ‘genuine evil of anti-semitism with the basic humanism of condemning Israeli genocide’.
HSF chair and senior partner Rebecca Maslen-Stannage said in a statement that HSF’s council had resolved to remove Hazard, and that that notice had been issued to him.
Hazard had been with HSF and legacy Australian firm Freehills – which merged with the UK’s Herbert Smith in 2012 – for almost three decades.
Maslen-Stannage also underlined the firm’s commitment to supporting its Jewish network, stating: ‘We have reached out to leaders of our firm’s Jewish network to ensure they feel supported at this difficult time.’
The move comes at a critical time for HSF, as it is gearing up for a partnership vote on its proposed tie-up with US firm Kramer Levin, a firm which has strong Jewish connections. Name partner Ezra Levin was inducted into the Bronx Jewish Hall of Fame in 2016 and is known as an advocate for the civil and social rights of Soviet Jews.
If the merger goes ahead as expected, it will create Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, a global firm with more than $2bn in revenue and over 2,700 lawyers, significantly expanding HSF’s presence in the US.
When it comes to rating and ranking the best law firms, there’s no shortage of metrics to choose from.
Whether it’s revenue, partner profits, headcount or law firm rankings (and there are well-worn arguments about the relative merits of all of these), the information is out there for market-watchers to make their assessments.
But what is less immediately available – and arguably more valuable – is quantitative data on how clients rate the service they get from law firms.
Over recent years, Legal 500 has collected data from hundreds of thousands of clients on this subject by asking them how strongly they would recommend the firms they use to others, with responses ranging from 0 (not at all likely) to 10 (extremely likely).
We’ve used this data to calculate a Net Promoter Score (NPS) – a market research metric devised by Bain & Co – for every firm, which means we can re-order the firms in Legal Business’s Global 100 by a completely new metric.
While some law firms already collect their own NPS data for internal purposes, we are uniquely able to see how firms stack up against each other – and breaking down the data into more specific groups reveals some interesting insights on which firms are the most highly recommended.
For UK heritage firms, Slaughter and May has the highest score with 79.9%, followed closely by Freshfields (78.9%). Fellow magic circle firm Linklaters is fourth with 77.1%, and those three outscore Clifford Chance (75.4%) and Allen & Overy on 74.9% (our data predates the merger with Shearman & Sterling, which scores 75.6%).
The top five UK heritage firms also include Hogan Lovells in third with 77.6%, and CMS in fifth place with 76.3%.
However, all of those are outscored by the elite Wall Street firms, led by Paul Weiss on 89.6%, followed by Cravath, Sullivan & Cromwell, Davis Polk and Simpson Thacher.
How the scores are calculated
Respondents that score firms nine or 10 are categorised as ‘promoters’, with those scoring 7 or 8 defined as ‘passives’ and those scoring their firms with six or less categorised as ‘detractors’. The NPS score is then calculated by deducting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters.
For example, if 100 clients are surveyed and 80 provide a score of 9-10 (promoters), with a further 10 passively scoring the firm 7-8 and the final 10 detractors scoring it 0-6, then the firm ends up with an NPS score of 70%.
This reordering of the global hierarchy shines a light on some firms that, while less well-known, appear to be making the right impression with clients.
Philadelphia-headquartered firm Cozen O’Connor scores highest with 96%, just ahead of Canada’s McCarthy Tetrault (95.3%) and Washington DC’s Venable (91.7%). Paul Weiss is fourth overall, just ahead of Chicago’s Seyfarth Shaw (89.6%).
For more information about our NPS scores and to find out more about how your firm ranks, please contact [email protected]
.
“Net Promoter®, NPS®, NPS Prism®, and the NPS-related emoticons are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., NICE Systems, Inc., and Fred Reichheld. Net Promoter ScoreSM and Net Promoter SystemSM are service marks of Bain & Company, Inc., NICE Systems, Inc., and Fred Reichheld.”
https://www.netpromotersystem.com/resources/trademarks-and-licensing/
Steve Gummer, head of net zero at Sharpe Pritchard, was recently named as one of Legal 500’s new UK Green Ambassadors. In this Q&A, he discusses the rise of ESG, career highlights, and how law can be a force for social and environmental change Continue reading “‘We need more lawyers with a green conscience’ – the net zero partner fighting for sustainability”
Leading the moves this week, US law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth has expanded its London office with the addition of an 11-lawyer energy and infrastructure team from EY Law, including four partners who moved together from DLA Piper less than five years ago.
Continue reading “Hunton takes 11-strong energy team from EY Law as CC and Latham make key hires”
The total revenue generated by UK-based legal services increased by 7.7% last year to a total of £47.1bn, according to a new report released today (10 December).
The report, ‘UK legal services 2024: Legal excellence, internationally renowned’, is the 13th annual report from industry body TheCityUK, which represents UK-based financial and professional services businesses, and is produced in partnership with Barclays.
Continue reading “Revenue generated by UK legal services rises almost 8% to £47bn, report finds”
‘If anyone had all the right answers, they’d be getting all the work in the City,’ jokes Cleary London private equity partner Michael James, when asked for tips on how junior partners should start building up the books of business needed to guarantee their long-term success.
In an industry as competitive as the top-end London legal market, with no shortage of talented lawyers and firms ready to undercut prices, the reality is that getting that initial book of business off the ground – and keeping it – can be tough.
‘As a firm, we are driven, ambitious and innovative, and we thrive in competitive markets like London,’ says Latham & Watkins’ new City head Ed Barnett, as he sits down to discuss his first 100 days in the role and his vision for the future of the office.
Since taking over from Stephen Kensell in September, Barnett – who joined the US firm from Allen & Overy eight years ago – has had his hands full; juggling not only his M&A practice and new leadership role but also managing an out-of-character knock to Latham’s London play – a series of high-profile partner exits.
Latham & Watkins, Jones Day, and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz are advising on Anglo American’s sale of its Australian steelmaking coal business to US coal mining company Peabody Energy, in a deal worth up to $3.775bn.
The transaction value comprises $2.05bn at completion, deferred cash consideration of $725m over four years after completion, a price-linked earnout up to $550m, and a further $450m contingent on the reopening of the Grosvenor mine. Continue reading “Dealwatch: US trio lead on $3.8bn Anglo American coal sale as Apax seals £700m professional services buyout”
Paul Weiss is set to close its Beijing office by the end of the year, becoming the latest in a series of major US law firms to scale back operations in China.
The New York-headquartered firm has had an office in Beijing since 1981, which marked its first office outside the US. The firm will continue to operate Asia offices in Hong Kong and Tokyo, which opened in 1983 and 1987 respectively.
‘We remain committed to having a strong presence across Asia, including in Hong Kong and Tokyo, and will continue to provide the highest-quality service to our clients in all of our global offices,’ a spokesperson for the firm said in a statement.
According to the firm’s website, the Beijing office currently has one partner, one counsel, and two associates. The Hong Kong office has eight lawyers, while the Tokyo office is staffed by ten lawyers.
Many other international law firms have been reducing their presence in China, citing geopolitical tensions, strict data privacy laws, and regulatory challenges. Just last month, WilmerHale closed its Beijing office following similar moves by Dechert, Morrison Foerster, Weil and Akin, all of which closed their Beijing offices in the past year.
Paul Weiss chair Brad Karp told Legal Business in October that the firm was ‘continuing to monitor Asia closely.’ While there has been speculation about a potential launch in Singapore, Karp confirmed that there are no current plans to open a new office in Asia.
The firm has been expanding internationally over the past year and a half, re-launching its London office and opening an office in Brussels. It now has 10 offices worldwide, including five in the US.
For more on Paul Weiss’ international strategy, see LB’s feature Late bloomer: how Paul Weiss made up for lost time on the global stage.
BDB Pitmans has completed its rebrand as Broadfield, joining as the founding member of a planned global network of mid-market firms established by US turnaround firm Alvarez & Marsal (A&M).
Broadfield officially launched this week (2 December) after signing up BDBP as its first earlier member this summer.
BDBP, which has four offices in London, Reading, Cambridge and Southampton, was formed by the 2018 combination of Bircham Dyson Bell and Pitmans. It is known to have been considering expansion options for some time, including holding merger talks with Womble Bond Dickinson.
Broadfield UK managing partner John Hutchinson – who became managing partner at BDBP last October after 30 years at the UK firm – told Legal Business that Broadfield is now expecting to announce a second member firm in the first quarter of 2025, and that it ‘may well be’ a US firm.
Earlier this year, he told LB that discussions with a New York firm were underway, and it is understood that those talks are still ongoing.
Hutchinson estimated that there would be a period of around six months between a firm agreeing to join Broadfield and becoming an official member, although this could vary depending on the firms involved.
The Broadfield venture was unveiled this July. An A&M subsidiary, SHP Legal Services (SHPLS), has been set up to support the Broadfield network. In a statement announcing the launch, Broadfield said that SHPLS will provide ‘management services to law firms joining Broadfield in the areas of technology, operations and talent acquisition.’
Member firms will have access to a technology stack maintained by SHPLS, although Hutchinson confirmed that while some tech improvements would be immediate, full access to the stack would not be available until a period within the next financial year.
In a statement, Broadfield said that SHPLS will provide management services to law firms joining the network “in the areas of technology, operations and talent acquisition.”
SHPLS is led by former McDermott Will & Emery chair Peter Sacripanti as CEO, alongside US lead John Hendrickson, also a former McDermott partner, with former EY financial services UK managing partner Christopher Price leading UK and EMEA operations.
In an interview earlier this year, Price told LB that Broadfield is hoping to add three other firms to the network – including at least one in the US and another UK firm – in the first twelve months.
With the exception of the US, there will be only one Broadfield firm per jurisdiction; as such, any UK firms that join would merge into Broadfield UK.
Firms signing up to the network will retain their own governance, although there will be planning boards that determine the overall direction of Broadfield.
For more on the deal, see Broadfield of dreams: BDB Pitmans signs up for new Alvarez & Marsal legal venture
