Financial Times article quotes Edwards Gibson Director in: “Top UK lawyers begin to muscle in on bankers’ turf”

Financial Times article quotes Edwards Gibson Director in: “Top UK lawyers begin to muscle in on bankers’ turf”. The article explores how, at the top end, the rise of US private equity alongside complex, “bet the company” lawsuits has changed the traditional role of the lawyer - which is no longer just papering deals or mitigating risk, but something far more personal - akin to a consigliere to the business. For a small but increasing coterie of rainmakers this, together with changes in the structure of law firm partnerships, has led to an explosion in pay which has increasingly converged with that of investment bankers. 

The article goes on to explain that this is a relatively recent phenomenon in the legal market, largely fuelled by a focus on developing a small number of close client relationships that offer the lawyer more prestige in the lawyer-client relationship; a reduction in the number of firms that pay partners on a lock-step basis, instead rewarding work won over rank; and some lawyers being able to offer a blend of financial and legal services. While the first two of these reasons may be seen as a reward for loyalty and isolationism, the last sees the potential beginning of a fundamental change in the role of a lawyer.

Since Covid, lawyer compensation in top firms has indeed hiked dramatically at all levels, with a small number of partners at the likes of Kirkland & Ellis and Paul, Weiss reportedly earning compensation of c.$20 million p/a in London – perhaps not quite at the top table of the private funds world, but at least no longer demonstrably poor cousins to their friends at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

Read the online version of the Financial Times (paywall) article here.