Law Firm Partner Moves in London - Issue 85

Download the full Partner Moves Issue here >>

Welcome to the 85^th edition of Law Firm Partner Moves in London, from the specialist partner team at 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. Our records go back to 2007, and here is our methodology.

• January – February 2025

 

This bi-monthly round-up contains 155 partner moves – astonishingly 49% up on the 104 we saw for the same period last year (at the time the second highest on record) and 34% up on the all-time record 116 set in 2017 when the figures were artificially buoyed by the collapse of King & Wood Mallesons’ European verein.

Overall, the numbers are 44% up on the cumulative five-year average (108); and 54% up on the cumulative ten-year average of (101) for the same period.

As reported in our last edition, 2024 was a record year for law firm partner moves which were in large part driven by the continued huge investment bets by US law firms in private capital related hires. In the first two months of this year, that same dynamic has continued and would itself have comfortably set a new record for the period, however, the splintering of (soon to be defunct) London law firm Memery Crystal has artificially boosted the lateral market further with the addition of (so far) 16* hapless émigrés from that firm whose scramble to find new homes is reflected in the figures. 

 

 

The most covetous firm this edition was Fladgate which took in 10 partners (9 from Memery Crystal), followed by: Clifford Chance with 6 hires; DWF, Kirkland & Ellis and White & Case with 5 each; and Akin, CMS, Haynes Boone, Mishcon de Reya, Shoosmiths, Simmons & Simmons and Stephenson Harwood which hired 4 apiece.

 

• Top partner recruiters in London January – February 2025

 

·         Fladgate	10	(10 laterals)
·         Clifford Chance	6	(3 laterals)
·         DWF	5	(5 laterals)
·         Kirkland & Ellis	5	(1 lateral)
·         White & Case	5	(2 laterals)
·         Akin	4	(3 laterals)
·         CMS	4	(3 laterals)
·         Haynes Boone	4	(4 laterals)
·         Mishcon de Reya	4	(3 lateral)
·         Shoosmiths	4	(4 laterals)
·         Simmons & Simmons	4	(3 laterals)
·         Stephenson Harwood	4	(2 laterals)

 

• Firms with largest attrition in January – February 2025 (partnership to partnership moves only)

 

·         Memery Crystal	16*
·         Kennedys	5
·         BCLP	4
·         DLA Piper	4
·         Stephenson Harwood	4
·         Akin	3
·         Baker McKenzie	3**
·         Paul Hastings	3
·         Mayer Brown	3
·         Troutman Pepper Locke	3
·         White & Case	3

* Excludes four partners which left Memery Crystal to join Lawrence Stephens as Directors (see below).

** Includes a lateral departure who moved from Baker McKenzie’s Brussels office to Morgan Lewis in London. 

 

 

• Team hires January – February 2025

 

The largest multi-partner team move this round-up was London firm Fladgate’s rescue of a mixed nine-partner corporate, finance and real estate team from Memery Crystal. In addition, a four-partner corporate team jumped ship from Memery Crystal* to Haynes Boone; a four-partner shipping team transitioned from Kennedys to DWF; and an IP trio shifted from A&O Shearman to White & Case (comprising one lateral and two verticals).

Twelve other firms hired two-partner teams: Blake Morgan (finance from Irwin Mitchell); Cadwalader (finance from Ashurst); Clifford Chance (finance from Mayer Brown and, separately, corporate from Skadden); CMS (product liability from Shook Hardy & Bacon); Edwin Coe (finance from Memery Crystal); Freshfields (energy and infrastructure from Paul Hastings); Gibson Dunn (restructuring and finance from Sullivan & Cromwell); Hogan Lovells (competition litigation from BCLP); King & Spalding (energy & infrastructure from Akin); Mayer Brown (structured finance from White & Case); Shoosmiths (IP from Troutman Pepper Locke); and Squire Patton Boggs (trade finance from Stephenson Harwood).

 

• Of particular interest

 

To market watchers the half-dozen partners hired by Clifford Chance in London over the past two months is in itself noteworthy. For context, in the preceding decade, Clifford Chance averaged just over two partner hires per annum in London; and that included 2022’s record, when the firm hired six throughout the year.      

This edition also sees the first ever lateral departure(s) in London from elite New York firm Sullivan & Cromwell, which loses a two-partner finance and restructuring team to Los Angeles founded Gibson Dunn.

 

• Memery Loss

 

 In a further blow to the listed law firm model, RBG Holdings, the parent company of Memery Crystal, and disputes boutique Rosenblatt, has stated its intention to appoint administrators – this follows a period of intense speculation and various attempts to source funds.  Whilst the eponymous Ian Rosenblatt has managed to regain control of his former firm (which, now separated from RBG Holdings, looks to be on firmer footing), Memery Crystal looks unlikely to survive the tumult.

 

 

Memery Crystal partners have been jumping in groups from the rapidly sinking ship. Life rafts in the form of alternative partnerships have so far been offered to 16* partners and their wider teams at: Blake Morgan (1 partner); Edwin Coe (2 partners), Fladgate (9 partners) Haynes Boone (4 partners). Until recently Memery Crystal had 35 partners in London so it is probable that other lateral émigrés from the troubled firm will be picked-up in subsequent editions of this publication.  

*In addition, a four-partner real estate team from Memery Crystal decamped to London firm Lawrence Stephens. However, because the individuals did not join their new firm as partners, in accordance with our methodology, they are not recorded in Law Firm Partner Moves.  

 

• Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in London anymore!

 

In January the Kansas-headquartered firm Shook, Hardy & Bacon announced the closure of its London office. As part of this realignment, the firm's two managing partners have transitioned to CMS, bolstering that firm's contentious product liability practice. Never large, the reasonably obscure disputes focused US firm was once known for big-ticket tobacco litigation and, along with (now defunct) LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, for having the most carnivorous sounding name in town.

 

• Big Law and The Rule of Law – A Warning

 

The volume of partner hiring is often regarded as a proxy for success – both for individual law firms, and the legal services industry as a whole. As such, it is perhaps ironic that the partner hire market is at an all-time high when the rule of law appears under such stress, both globally and in particular in the United States (where more than a third of the law firms making hires in this edition are headquartered). Regardless of any political or democratic merits of the policies, at the time of writing, many of the new administration’s actions, in particular regarding the separation of powers, due process and conflicts of interest, appear to breach basic rule of law fundamentals.

Lawyers … should remember that the financial success of Big Law is predicated entirely on the rule of law.  

 

A democratically elected government has every right to legally amend legislation to implement its policies. Some business leaders and politicians have welcomed the recent circumventing of due process as a necessary evil required to loosen stifling regulatory burdens and boost economic activity. In the short-term this may well succeed (although the medium-term ramifications of a more capricious legal system will likely prove less beneficial for business). However, lawyers looking forward to a short-term M&A fillip (and there are more than a few!), should remember that the financial success of Big Law is predicated entirely on the rule of law.

If that still sounds too esoteric for law firm partners, the recent singling out for retribution by the Trump administration of the law firm Covington & Burling, (whose lawyers provided advice to the former Special Counsel involved in the prosecution of Donald Trump), should focus minds. Particularly as some lawyers at that firm have been individually targeted. If accepted, the issue may not be confined to corporate crime/ investigations lawyers – who’s to say that a commercial disputes lawyer, or even an M&A lawyer involved in a hostile takeover, acting on behalf of “the wrong party” will not be next?

To (mis)quote Niemöller, “First they came for the criminal lawyers, and I did not speak out because I was not a criminal lawyer…” Lawyers struggling with cue recall might remember that the poem ends:

“And then they came for me,
And there was no one left
To speak for me.”

 

• Other Fun Facts January – February 2025

• 29% (45) of moves this edition were female.
• 24% (37) of all hires were non-partners moving into partnership.
• 4 firms hired from in-house this edition: Akin (from Proman AG), Clifford Chance (from Blackstone and KKR), Lee & Thompson (from VCCP), Jones Day (the former Lord Chancellor from the Ministry of Justice).

 

 

CLICK THE DOWNLOAD LINK BELOW FOR OUR FULL JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2025 REPORT

 

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.

 

Scott Gibson, Director scott.gibson@edwardsgibson.com or +44 (0)7788 454 080

 

Sloane Poulton, Director sloane.poulton@edwardsgibson.com or +44 (0)7967 603 402

 

Please click here to understand our methodology for compiling Partner Moves

 

Download the full Partner Moves Issue here >>

If you would like to subscribe to our Partner Moves Newsletter, email us at support@edwardsgibson.com

• Edwards Gibson Partner Round-Up - Our Methodology
• Previous editions of Partner Moves in London
• Quantifying your following and writing an effective law firm business plan
• Specimen partner business plan template
• The Partnership Track and Moving for Immediate Partnership
• Legal directory rankings and their effect on lawyer recruitment
• Restrictive Covenants and Moving on as a Partner