In a marked shift in leadership away from its Illinois roots, Global 100 giant Mayer Brown has appointed City-based veteran Jeremy Clay as its new managing partner.
Global real estate head Clay will replace Washington-based litigator Kenneth Geller, who took on the role in 2009. Continue reading “UK rules: London in the spotlight as Mayer Brown appoints City veteran Clay as managing partner”
Marco Cillario finds City offices outpacing worldwide growth at many Global London firms
2017 was a boom year for many of the London outposts of US law firms, with several convincingly outpacing their firm’s global performance financially and two passing the $300m mark. And it was not just a frenetic private equity market that boosted the London coffers: many UK teams also picked up headline mandates in areas including disputes and financial restructuring.
White & Case remains the highest-grossing US firm in London thanks to a 13% hike to its top line to $328m in 2017 – a faster growth than its 10% global revenue rise to $1.8bn. Continue reading “‘Investments have come home’: City branches stand out in big year for US players”
A surging private equity market, the City’s first $10m lateral and two law firms passing the $3bn mark. At first glance, 2017 looks to have been another boom year for international players in London. Neither did it hurt that City practices in a significant number of cases outpaced firm-wide revenue growth at many prominent US brands, including Latham & Watkins, White & Case, Paul Hastings, Sidley Austin, Cooley and Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy.
Tragically for legal reporters, the story is a little more nuanced as a whole. Lawyer numbers at the 50 firms that make up our Global London table certainly reached new heights in 2017 at 6,212 but are up overall by a steady rather than spectacular 3%. Continue reading “A Tale of Two Citys – a growing divide emerges as the US elite storms ahead in London”
‘Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!’ exclaims Oliver Brettle, White & Case’s London executive partner, before getting up and heading for the door.
Given an amicable discussion of the considerable recent growth of White & Case’s City arm, the reaction to a question about the firm’s disputes practice seems a little abrupt. Continue reading “Reborn supremacy – inside the unlikely White & Case revolution”
Striking numbers abound in this year’s Global London table, if you are into that kind of thing. The three pace-setting US brands in London – Latham & Watkins, Kirkland & Ellis and White & Case – are all generating in the $300m region in the Square Mile, last year saw the first $10m lateral and my back-of-the-envelope scribbling indicates that the top 50 US firms are comfortably pulling in over $5bn in the UK.
The market is increasingly now defined by this trio, predictably so in the case of Latham, though City lawyers are still trying to get their heads around the idea of Kirkland and White & Case as mounting a frontal challenge. A few years ago, I’d have been equally sceptical, particularly in the latter’s case, but if there is a glaring hole in the game plan of these two outfits, they are hiding it well. With all three making ground in mainstream transactional work through 2017 and securing significant hires – the idea that certain kinds of M&A will remain the preserve of City advisers over the next three years looks fanciful.
Continue reading “Brexit looms yet City law tilts further towards US leaders”
To mark the launch of our 2018 Global London report, we ask senior figures at leading US firms in London for a progress update
‘Until a few years ago it was very hard to get a UK partner to leave their firm. Today we see the pendulum swinging: it went from extreme loyalty to far less. The focus for US firms has to be on how to keep people. Historically, Proskauer has done that really well.’
Mary Kuusisto, London office head, Proskauer Rose Continue reading “The Last Word – Views from the market”
