The Legal 500 View: Chart-toppers: the elite firms dominating this year’s UK Legal 500 rankings

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The Legal 500 View: Chart-toppers: the elite firms dominating this year’s UK Legal 500 rankings

UK editors Georgina Stanley (pictured) and Ben Wheway take a deep dive into the performance of the Legal Business 100 firms in the most recent UK Legal 500 research

Spotting trends across research as vast and wide-ranging as The Legal 500 UK Solicitors isn’t always straightforward. The research by Legal Business’s sibling title is unique in the depth and granularity with which it covers the UK market, identifying the market-leading law firms everywhere from the upper echelons of the premium private equity market in London to agriculture and estates in Scotland. Continue reading “The Legal 500 View: Chart-toppers: the elite firms dominating this year’s UK Legal 500 rankings”

Legal 500 data: The Legal 500 Latin America rankings

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Legal 500 data: The Legal 500 Latin America rankings

The tables below summarise top-tier rankings, firstly by country (for the region’s major jurisdictions), and then on a regional basis, as drawn from The Legal 500 Latin America’s 2022 edition (published October 2021). Please note these listings exclude Central America, which will be considered separately in a subsequent edition of Legal Business.

Continue reading “Legal 500 data: The Legal 500 Latin America rankings”

The Legal 500 View: Promotion prospects – the firms with the biggest gains in the UK Legal 500

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The Legal 500 View: Promotion prospects – the firms with the biggest gains in the UK Legal 500

Every firm thinks they deserve to move up the rankings – but which are making the strongest case? Ben Wheway crunches the numbers to find the firms who saw the biggest improvement in their rankings

Of all the questions fielded by The Legal 500 editorial team, ‘what do we have to do to move up the rankings?’ is almost certainly the most frequently asked, narrowly ahead of ‘please can we have an extension on the submission deadline?’ Continue reading “The Legal 500 View: Promotion prospects – the firms with the biggest gains in the UK Legal 500”

L500 UK: Gender diversity hits new high – time to focus on the elephant in the room

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L500 UK: Gender diversity hits new high – time to focus on the elephant in the room

It’s fair to say that legal directories have come in for more than their fair share of flack over the years, particularly when it comes to speed of change. But if proof were needed that The Legal 500 is more than capable of setting the pace, then the latest UK gender diversity stats neatly provide it.

When I joined The Legal 500 three years ago, only 5% of leading individuals ranked for premium M&A in London were women. Today, that figure stands at more than 31%. And, crucially, this progress has been replicated across the wider guide, both in London and the rest of the UK. Continue reading “L500 UK: Gender diversity hits new high – time to focus on the elephant in the room”

The Legal 500 View: Kind of a big deal: The top L500 firms for corporate/M&A

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The Legal 500 View: Kind of a big deal: The top L500 firms for corporate/M&A

Legal 500 editors Georgina Stanley and Ben Wheway break down the firms which fare best for corporate and M&A around the world

DLA Piper and Eversheds Sutherland have more top-tier corporate and M&A rankings in the UK Legal 500 than any other firms. Continue reading “The Legal 500 View: Kind of a big deal: The top L500 firms for corporate/M&A”

The Legal 500 View: The rise of US firms from barbarians at the gate to London’s top tiers

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The Legal 500 View: The rise of US firms from barbarians at the gate to London’s top tiers

A ten-year analysis of Legal 500 data highlights the ever-growing status of top Global London firms in London, as Georgina Stanley and Ben Wheway explain

The ten largest Global London firms have almost tripled their top-tier rankings in the UK Legal 500 over the last ten years, according to data analysis which highlights their increasing penetration at the top end of the City legal market.

The group (full list below*) have increased their combined number of tier one rankings by 186% from 21 to 60 over the last decade. This compares with a 32% increase in top-tier rankings for the ten largest UK firms by revenue, from 158 to 208. Continue reading “The Legal 500 View: The rise of US firms from barbarians at the gate to London’s top tiers”

The Legal 500 View: The gender agenda: the rankings and firms making progress on diversity

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The Legal 500 View: The gender agenda: the rankings and firms making progress on diversity

Legal 500 editors Georgina Stanley and Ben Wheway take an in-depth look at gender diversity in the latest Legal 500 London rankings

‘Institutional male dominance is hard to shift – it isn’t enough to want to change; sometimes these things are structural,’ says Travers Smith disputes partner Caroline Edwards (pictured) of the difficulties women lawyers can face trying to build their profile in the legal market and the directories that reflect it, including The Legal 500. Continue reading “The Legal 500 View: The gender agenda: the rankings and firms making progress on diversity”

Firms pile into fast-moving corporate crime sphere but is there enough work to keep all hands busy?

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Firms pile into fast-moving corporate crime sphere but is there enough work to keep all hands busy?

 

Georgina Stanley and Anna Cole-Bailey assess a highly competitive sector in flux

Tesco, Rolls-Royce, Unaoil, Greenergy – as companies face increasing scrutiny of their governance and anti-corruption procedures, the number of law firms striving to corner the lucrative white-collar/corporate crime market shows no sign of abating. Continue reading “Firms pile into fast-moving corporate crime sphere but is there enough work to keep all hands busy?”

New players and funding prompt evolution of disputes but City leaders adapt well

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New players and funding prompt evolution of disputes but City leaders adapt well

‘We’ve disrupted the market – everybody knows about us now,’ says Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan London co-managing partner Ted Greeno of the US firm’s inexorable rise in the City.

The ex-Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) partner, himself one of a string of high-profile recruits Quinn Emanuel made since its London launch in 2008, has a point. The disputes-only powerhouse now counts some 85 full-time partners and associates in London – a larger team than Slaughter and May’s litigation offering and not far off the size of Clifford Chance (CC)’s muscular City practice (see below). Continue reading “New players and funding prompt evolution of disputes but City leaders adapt well”

Top Trumps, City-style – Who holds the cards in private equity?

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Top Trumps, City-style – Who holds the cards in private equity?

If there’s one City practice that has barely paused for breath in recent years, it is private equity (PE). Global buyout values reached a record high in 2018 and, while Mergermarket data suggests the first half of 2019 slipped back somewhat, activity levels remain strong, with take-privates driving much marquee M&A activity.

This has only served to underline the drawing power of the sector’s top dealmakers and recent years have seen a flurry of lateral moves. Kirkland & Ellis, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Latham & Watkins are among the most potent threats to the Magic Circle, but others, such as Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Willkie Farr & Gallagher have also made investments to build out their City operations. Continue reading “Top Trumps, City-style – Who holds the cards in private equity?”