Dechert has ramped up investment in its European funds business with a pair of hires, including Marianna Tothova in London from Ashurst.
The hire of Tothova, which comes amid a pacey recruitment drive for the US firm in London in recent months, coincides with that of Carol Widger from Maples and Calder as the managing partner of its Dublin office. Continue reading “Dechert bolsters European funds team with key City and Dublin hires”
US-based firms Kirkland & Ellis, Baker McKenzie, Weil Gotshal & Manges and Mayer Brown have revealed the gulf between male and female pay for their staff in the UK, with all four firms blaming fewer senior women employees for the significant disparity between genders.
As per previous disclosures from UK-based firms, all cite the preponderance of females in secretarial roles or fewer females in senior roles as the root cause of the disparity. But unlike some of the UK firms that have come under pressure for full disclosure lately, none of the firms disclosed gender pay gap for partner pay. Continue reading “Different origins, same excuses: Kirkland, Bakers, Weil Gotshal and Mayer Brown reveal UK gender pay gap stats”
The London outposts of leading international firms reported mixed results for 2016, with White & Case and Baker McKenzie reporting income growth while Reed Smith and Debevoise & Plimpton both struggled.
As it stands, foreign advisers continued to aggressively invest in London through 2016. The number of London-based lawyers employed at the 50 largest foreign firms, now numbers 6,033, an increase of 22% over the last two years despite a generally subdued UK legal services market. The elimination of King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) from our tables this year understates the growth through the last 12 months but in underlying terms, headcount probably grew at least 4% even allowing for the re-allocation of legacy SJ Berwin lawyers to US rivals. Given the KWM implosion, it was unsurprisingly a record year for partner recruitment, with nearly 200 laterals within the group. The overall pace of growth, however, slowed somewhat on 2015.
Continue reading “Global London: Has the City reached the end of its curious post-Lehman boom?”
‘We will continue to hire lawyers we see as adding something. That continues to be the mantra: hire great lawyers and your practice will grow.’
Richard East, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
As our Global London report hits desks, the leadership at US law firms in the City weigh up the challenges ahead
‘The firm has a clearly defined strategy for where and how we will grow. We will continue to build our top-ranked transactional, regulatory, litigation and trial practices and focus on the industries that are driving the global economy. Mission drift can happen if you take your eye off the strategy. The investments we make are for the long term and are key to ensuring we stay focused on what we need to do to serve our clients’ needs today, and in the future.’
Richard Trobman, vice chair, Latham & Watkins
London office headcount: 69 lawyers, 19 partners
Fee-earner headcount change since 2011: n/a
London head: Tim Frazer
Office speciality: Life sciences, dispute resolution, telecommunications, white-collar crime Continue reading “Focus: Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer”
Latham & Watkins has bolstered its regulatory and disputes offering in the City with the hire of Ashurst’s head of financial services regulation Rob Moulton.
French firm AyacheSalama has launched its first international office in the City with four partners as it looks to advise on client investment from London into France more efficiently.
Financial services boutique BuckleySandler is set to launch its first international office as it expands its global financial crimes practice.
Our 12th annual Legal Business Global London survey reveals the pressure a mounting US offensive is putting on City stalwarts. Can the UK firms resist the advance?
Maurice Allen, co-managing partner of Ropes & Gray’s London office, knows all about the major players in the City, having taken in Clifford Chance (CC), White & Case and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer during his career. ‘All US firms are doing extremely well,’ he says. ‘A number of firms made significant investments – they’re hiring because the market is playing very nicely to the US firms.’ A biased view perhaps but one that is backed up by the data in this year’s Global London survey: overall headcount of the 50 largest global firms in the UK is up by 6% on the previous year to 4,624 from 4,382.
