March-April 2019 round up of Lateral Partner Moves in London

Welcome to the latest round-up of lateral partner moves in the legal market from Edwards Gibson, where we look back at announced partner-level recruitment activity in London over the past two months and give you a ‘who’s moved where’ update.

There are a total of 76 lateral partner moves hires in this edition – an 19% increase on last year and 10% up on the statistical average (69) for the same period over the past 5 years. The single largest team move was a raid by Fieldfisher on RPC of a three-partner construction/ construction disputes team. In addition, four firms: Akin Gump (in funds), Gateley (in private client) Mayer Brown (in restructuring/insolvency) and Mills & Reeve (in insurance) hired two partner teams.

As a sector, energy-focused laterals appeared to be the most in demand, constituting 11% of all hires. Also, in particularly high demand were private equity funds partners (8% of all laterals) as well as a similar proportion - the highest we have ever recorded - of restructuring / insolvency partners; Allen & Overy, Goodwin Procter, Macfarlanes, Mayer Brown and Reed Smith all recruited restructuring partners this round-up. It is too soon to say if this elevation, long prophesised by hopeful restructuring lawyers, is a statistical spike (arising from firms hedging against a bumpier post-Brexit economy and rising global interest rates) or a gloomier portent of things to come.

Top partner recruiters in London March - April 2019

Also of note in this edition

• 3 firms - Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance and Hogan Lovells - hired partners from in-house;
• 22% of all laterals were non-partners moving into partnership;
• 25% of the total moves we recorded were female partners.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to discuss this article or any other aspect of the market in more depth.

Many thanks,

The Edwards Gibson Team