Law Firm Partner Moves in London - Issue 84

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Welcome to the 84^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. This edition concludes our Law Firm Partner Moves in London for 2024 and we have included some facts and figures below comparing this year’s partner-level recruitment activity with that over the past ten years.

 

• A summary of 2024

 

There were 548 partner moves announced in 2024. Our records go back to 2007, and this is by far the highest number ever recorded in a single year – 7% up on the previous record - 514 - which was set last year, and 15% and 18% up on the five and ten-year averages respectively.

 

The reason behind this recruitment hyperactivity is in large part due to the continued huge investment bets by US law firms in private capital related hires which, particularly since August 2023, have pumped scores of millions of dollars of additional partner compensation into a relatively closed system.

 

As has often been the case in our year-end edition, the most acquisitive firm of the year was Kirkland & Ellis which, aided in part by its unusual partnership structure, hired 21 partners (albeit only 7 were laterals). Next up was Simmons & Simmons, which snapped up 16 partners (12 laterals), and Paul Weiss with 14 partners (10 laterals).

 

 

• Top partner recruiters in London 2024

 

Top partner recruiters in London 2024	Total hires	Lateral hires
Kirkland & Ellis	21	7
Simmons & Simmons	16	12
Paul Weiss	14	10
Addleshaw Goddard	13	6
Pinsent Masons	13	10
Charles Russell Speechlys	12	10
Mishcon de Reya	12	7
TLT Solicitors	12	9
McDermott Will & Emery	10	9
Sidley Austin	10	10
White & Case	10	7
DLA Piper	9	8
Greenberg Traurig	9	8
King & Spalding	9	6
Stephenson Harwood	9	3

 

• Top partner recruiters in London 2024 (partnership to partnership moves only)

 

Top partner recruiters in London 2024	Lateral hires
Simmons & Simmons	12
Charles Russell Speechlys	10
Paul Weiss	10
Pinsent Masons	10
Sidley Austin	10
McDermott Will & Emery	9
TLT Solicitors	9
DLA Piper	8
Greenberg Traurig	8
Hunton Andrews Kurth	8

 

• Team hires 2024

 

The two most sizeable multi-partner team moves in 2024 were Bristol headquartered TLT’s hire of an eight-partner infrastructure planning and real estate team from BDB Pitmans, announced in October; and Sidley Austin’s (likely) three-stage acquisition of an eight-partner* finance and US securities team from Latham & Watkins comprising: a sponsor-side leveraged finance hexad (announced in August with a late joiner in December); and a US qualified high-yield duo announced in October. Meanwhile, Virginia-headquartered Hunton Andrews Kurth bolstered its ranks with a six-partner lateral team from EY Law comprising an energy & project finance quartet alongside an asset finance duo. Notably, all six partners share a long history of working together, having been at DLA Piper for an extended period before transitioning to EY.

 

Also noteworthy was Atlanta headquartered King & Spalding’s recruitment of a five-partner funds finance team from Cadwalader; and Latham & Watkins’ hire of a four partner lender-side leveraged finance team from Cahill (3 laterals and 1 vertical).

 

In addition, eight firms hired three-partner teams: Addleshaw Goddard (corporate and US securities) from Pinsent Masons; Akin (corporate) from Cooley; Freshfields (finance and restructuring) from Weil; Greenberg Traurig (construction disputes/ international arbitration) from Pinsent Masons; Katten (tax and financial services) from Curtis; Kirkland & Ellis (leveraged finance and US securities) from A&O Shearman*; Proskauer Rose (leveraged finance and acquisitions) from Cahill; and Simmons & Simmons (technology transactions and regulatory compliance) from Deloitte Legal.

 

Latham & Watkins suffered the highest attrition in 2024 – losing 13 serving partners to rivals – followed by EY Law and Pinsent Masons, which lost a dozen laterals apiece, then Linklaters and Sidley Austin which both lost 11.

 

*Whilst Edwards Gibson cannot be certain all the hires in these moves were linked, it is probable that they were.  

 

• Firms with largest attrition in 2024 (partnership to partnership moves only)

 

Highest partner attrition	No. laterals lost
Latham & Watkins	13
Pinsent Masons	12
EY Law**	11
Linklaters	11
Sidley Austin	11
BDB Pitmans	10
Deloitte Legal**	10
Eversheds Sutherland	9
Kirkland & Ellis	9
A&O Shearman**	8
Goodwin Procter	8
Paul Hastings	8

 

**This figure excludes any “associate partners” who have moved to another law firm for partnership.

***This figure includes attrition from A&O Shearman as well as attrition from (pre-merger) Allen & Overy in 2024. There was no attrition from legacy Shearman & Sterling in London during this period.

 

• Paul Weiss - The invasive species that upset the London Big Law ecosystem

 

To a large extent all ecosystems are shaped by their apex predator and, since August 2023, it is indisputable that the London Big Law biome has been profoundly impacted by the European re-launch of Paul Weiss and its (significantly more than) $100 million investment in an English law offering. The Wall Street raptor’s aggressive hiring strategy has been partly facilitated by the abandonment of its (once sacrosanct) all equity partnership, along with the adoption of “black box” partner compensation – peppered with some stellar top-end offers to laterals of (reportedly) up to $20 million p/a.

Although Paul Weiss was only the third most covetous firm in London in 2024, it actually hired the same number of partners this year (14) as it did last year when it took the top slot for laterals. Since August 2023, its Air Street office has hired 28 partners – 24 of whom were laterals. Although impressive, the number belies the multiplying impact these hires have had on the market as a whole – both peer and near-peer rivals have scrambled to restock by poaching laterals from other firms. As many of these knock-on hires have been “distressed purchases” they have come with significantly inflated compensation. The ripple effect of this has often been to force tertiary firms in the chain to make their own losses good through a mix of external recruitment and associate battlefield promotions; an ongoing process that will continue well into next year. Indeed, in a boon for head-hunters, in some instances the arrival of a single Paul Weiss lateral has ultimately led to three, or even four, collateral re-stock hires. 

 

… in a boon for head-hunters, in some instances the arrival of a single Paul Weiss lateral has ultimately led to three, or even four, collateral re-stock hires.

 

Even before Paul Weiss, US law firms were already heavily investing in private equity and debt finance in London. Over the past 18 months, the combined impact of: (i) existing pre-planned set-piece investments by US firms; (ii) Paul Weiss’ own unprecedented expenditure; and (iii) forced collateral re-stock hires as a result of (ii), has pumped scores of $millions in additional annual partner compensation into a relatively closed system. This has, unsurprisingly, had an inflationary impact on top-end partner compensation.

 

This London specific issue has coincided with, and possibly contributed to, a stream of fundamental changes in historically über conservative partnership structures at other elite US law firms. The widespread abandonment of all-equity partnerships, and the corresponding rise of non-equity partnerships, has enabled firms to free up partnership points and upwardly stretch their top of equity to attract and retain star rainmakers. In the longer term, those firms (including Paul Weiss itself) which have added a non-equity cadre of partners to their ranks will find that it both elevates recruitment and increases partner attrition.  

 

… history tells us that Stateside partners often fall out of love with bankrolling a shiny new London office right around the time they find out they can no longer afford that boat they’d set their sights on.

 

Whilst the ripple effect of Paul Weiss’ London hires will continue to impact the market well into next year, now that it has reached critical mass, it is unlikely that the Wall Street firm will continue its own hiring spree at the same breakneck speed – at least for transactional lawyers. Indeed, in general, Paul Weiss’ partner hires of 2024 were of less market significance than those of the previous year, with four of the new joiners being verticals or from in-house.

 

Paul Weiss does appear to have picked up some genuinely significant English law mandates, and it has already likely established itself as a permanent London alternative to its arch-rival Kirkland & Ellis. However, it is doubtful that its work winning success has yet covered its enormous outlay and eventually its New York management will want to see a proper return on their eye wateringly expensive investment. 

 

Indeed, history tells us that Stateside partners often fall out of love with bankrolling a shiny new London office right around the time they find out they can no longer afford that boat they’d set their sights on.  Wayback in 1998 another US law firm – McDermott Will & Emery – launched in London to much fanfare advertising the (then) unheard of sum of £1 million to laterals. After a few short years of dominating the news cycle with impressive lateral hires and gaining a cornucopia of top directory rankings, the (then) management, purportedly frustrated with the lack of return, pulled the plug and the firm quickly retrenched into relative obscurity for more than a decade.

 

To be clear, there is no suggestion that Paul Weiss has overstretched – but any slowdown in its predations is good news for Big Law rivals who, to paraphrase Winson Churchill, can at least hope that, if this is not the end, and not even the beginning of the end, it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

 

• Ever decreasing Magic Circles

 

2024 saw the Magic Circle quintet cumulatively hire 16 partners in London, this is broken down as: A&O Shearman (7); Clifford Chance (3); Freshfields (5); and Linklaters (1). As usual Slaughter and May neither hired nor lost any laterals. By historic standards, beyond the last three years, this level of recruitment would be very high for the fivesome.

However, against this, cumulatively the Magic Circle lost an astonishing 28 serving partners to rivals (nearly 50% up on the previous record (19) and more than two thirds higher than the rolling 10-year average (17)). Although the 28 included one transfer between two Magic Circle firms, the overwhelming majority of losses were to more profitable private-equity-led US law firms.

… cumulatively the Magic Circle lost an astonishing 28 serving partners

 

Following its loss of a dozen partners in 2023, Linklaters once again stood out as having by far the greatest attrition in the group – losing 11 laterals in 2024. 

 

• Latham’s London Leak

 

Latham & Watkins, renowned for its expansive network and profitability, has for years been the poster child for the Big Law global elite, however, 2024 saw a wave of unexpected partner departures. Since January the firm has lost 13 serving partners to rivals in London.  More than half of these were to Sidley Austin which took 8 (including Latham’s former London managing partner and two former co-chairs of the London finance practice) specialising in leveraged finance and US securities. The other losses were to: Paul Hastings (a disputes and corporate crime duo); Greenberg Traurig (US securities); Milbank (structured products/CLOs); and Skadden (IP).

 

The trend was not confined to London. Latham's European offices, particularly in Germany, have also experienced unusual levels of attrition.

 

There has been much commentary around the reasoning behind Latham’s recent departures and whether this is a result of changing priorities for the firm in Europe. Nevertheless, despite the disruptions, the Los Angeles headquartered outfit itself welcomed 8 partners (6 of whom were laterals) in London in 2024. 

 

• A Cahill Struggle…

 

Another victim of US law firm-on-US law firm internecine warfare was New York firm Cahill, which at one point saw its London partner count shrink 75% after suffering a series of high-profile defections to rivals. The Wall Street firm lost seven leveraged finance/high yield lawyers who have taken partnership at rivals (four to Latham & Watkins, two to Proskauer Rose and one to White & Case), initially leaving its London outpost with just two disputes partners. Cahill has already began the process of restocking its non-contentious bench with a New York qualified high yield lateral from Clifford Chance, however, despite its phenomenal Stateside reputation in leveraged finance, the recent high-profile hires by peer and near peer rivals in that space will make the process of replacement an up-hill struggle.     

 

New York firm Cahill … at one point saw its London partner count shrink 75% after suffering a series of high-profile defections to rivals.

 

• Pinsent Masons and Sidley Austin – easy come easy go …

 

Pinsent Masons and Chicago-born Sidley Austin stand out as being both amongst this year’s top partner hirers whilst also simultaneously suffering the highest levels of lateral predation to rivals.  In 2024 Pinsent Masons welcomed 13 partners (10 of whom were laterals) and lost 12 serving partners to rivals. Similarly, Sidley Austin hired 10 laterals and lost 11. After all that recruitment downtime, Pinsents saw a net gain of just one partner, whilst Sidley Austin ended the year down one.      

 

• Genesis and Exodus – one US law firm launches whilst another flees London

 

Seattle-based technology-focused outfit Perkins Coie (re) launched its London office in May with an eclectic partner quintet of former (and serving) White & Case corporate lawyers comprising: a retired storied rainmaker; two in-house General Counsel; and two lateral hires from White & Case in Prague.

In contrast, in August, it was announced that St. Louis-headquartered Armstrong Teasdale would be closing its London office. The City outpost, which opened in February 2021 following the acquisition of the 16-partner firm Kerman & Co, had dwindled to just 10 partners, most of whom specialised in IP, by the time of the announcement. Subsequently it has transpired that the London office has been subject to insolvency proceedings and (reportedly) linked to regulatory investigations.

 

• Accounting for lost laterals - the (not so) Big Four

 

The Big Four accounting firms (Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC) collectively hired just one partner in London in 2024, however, relative to the number of lawyer partners, the level of attrition at the quartet has been dramatic. Whilst PwC and KPMG**** lost three partners between them, Deloitte and EY Law have experienced a surge in partner defections losing 10 and 11 partners respectively*****. A high proportion of Deloitte émigrés were former Kemp Little lawyers who joined following the (seemingly problematic) acquisition of the 27 partner City TMT boutique in 2021.

 

****Includes a Partner who sat in a tax, rather than legal services, team but who moved as a lateral to McDermott Will & Emery.  

*****These figures exclude any “associate partners” who have moved to another law firm as partners.

 

• Another trans-Atlantic tie-up

 

One of the most significant events in Big Law this year was the announcement in November that Anglo-Australian outfit Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) and New York headquartered Kramer Levin had agreed to merge. If approved by the partners, the tie-up will create a truly global law firm with combined revenues of over $2 billion and more than 2,700 lawyers.

 

There has been much commentary on the merger which has been generally positive.  However, when law firms enter merger discussions there is often elevated partner attrition at both legacy outfits because practice overlaps, client conflicts, partner egos and issues around relative contribution nearly always come into play. Happily, because Kramer Levin had no presence in London, on a local level at least, most of these issues will be side-stepped so there should be very limited direct attrition from HSF (and, by definition, zero attrition from Kramer Levin) in London.  Nevertheless, because both firms have decided to fully integrate their profit pools – (i.e. not “cheat” by using a Swiss Verein-type structure) – the financial gymnastics will be challenging because Kramer Levin is so much more profitable than HSF.  Creating a “one size fits all” equity spread for a firm with three sizable (and very different) global profit centres will be fraught and, if management gets it wrong, then the relative contribution issues will cause disgruntled partners at both legacy HSF and Kramer Levin to defect to rivals. To the extent that this occurs in London, it will of course be reflected in future editions of Edwards Gibson’s Partner Moves.          

 

• The Travails of Travers Smith continue …

 

Throughout 2023 we reported on the high attrition at Travers Smith. At the time we estimated that, ignoring promotions, the 80 something partner private equity focused firm lost over 12% of its partnership to competitors – 10 partners – in one year.  In 2024 the firm continued to lose a disproportionately high proportion of its partnership (7 laterals) to competitors, this time to: Goodwin Procter (two partners); Latham & Watkins; Linklaters; Sidley Austin; and pensions specialist, Sackers. Against this Travers Smith hired two partners (one lateral from Watson Farley Williams and one in-house lawyer from Backstone Credit and Insurance).

 

• Alternative Law Firms

 

As per our methodology, Edwards Gibson only records hires by law firms with conventional partnership (or corporate) structures. As such, we do not record hires to “alternative law firms”; the way they are structured, and the difficulties in confirming a given lawyer’s location at these entities, make like-for-like comparisons with conventional law firms challenging. Nevertheless, it should be noted that were we to do so, Keystone Law would likely feature at the top of the rankings above - on a rough reckoning, Keystone Law welcomed 24 relevant partners in 2024.  

 

• Other Fun Facts From 2024

 

• 31% of moves this edition were female (167) – over the past 5 years this figure has ranged from 26% to 31%.
• 6% of all hires (31) were from in-house or business.
• 23% of all moves (126) were vertical promotions (non-partnership law firm roles to partnership upon moving to another law firm).

 

• November – December 2024

 

This bi-monthly round-up contains 79 partner moves - 11% up on the 71 we saw for the same period last year. In keeping with the rest of 2024, partner recruitment remains at very high levels - 10% up on the cumulative five-year average (71); and 18% up on the cumulative ten-year average of (67) for the same period.

 

The most covetous firms over the past two months were Addleshaw Goddard, which hired five new partners, and Clyde & Co and Kirkland & Ellis who both hired four; followed by: Freshfields, Mishcon de Reya, Simpson Thacher, Stephenson Harwood and White & Case which hired three new partners apiece.

 

 

• Top partner recruiters in London November – December 2024

 

Addleshaw Goddard	5	(4 laterals)
Clyde & Co	4	(2 laterals)
Kirkland & Ellis	4	(1 lateral)
Freshfields	3	(1 lateral)
Mishcon de Reya	3	(2 laterals)
Simpson Thacher	3	(3 laterals)
Stephenson Harwood	3	(2 laterals)
White & Case	3	(2 laterals)

 

Three firms hired from in-house this edition: DWF (from Cleantech Cadre), Mishcon de Reya (from SeedLegals) and Mantle Law (from Arup).

 

• Market Outlook

 

For the second year running the growth in the partner hire market has been turbo-charged by unprecedented investment by US law firms into private capital related hires. Over an 18-month period scores of $ millions in additional partner compensation has been pumped into the system, which has caused lateral pay at elite firms to spike - facilitating movement on a scale never before seen in London. Star debt finance (and especially leveraged finance), corporate M&A and private funds specialists have been the main focus of this largess, but it has also extended to support areas such as tax, anti-trust and financial services.  

 

On the non-transactional side, litigation funding has continued to be a contributor to partner hire activity. Moreover, thanks to the gift of English law, London has benefited as the venue of choice for high stakes disputes, in particular, the rise in global class-actions. Not only has litigation funding assisted the business cases of those laterals who have direct relationships with funders, to a lesser extent, it has also elevated demand for disputes partners as a whole.

 

It is unlikely that the law firm partner hire market of 2025 will witness quite the same frenetic levels of activity as we saw in 2024. On the transactional side, there are only so many “star” private equity, debt finance and private funds teams left who have not moved. Moreover, beyond a small cadre of super-elite law firms, the economics of star hires is difficult to justify, and we are already hearing that there is pushback from some Stateside partners at US firms about the eyewatering costs of recent London recruitment.

 

In addition, as we mention in our report, now that it has reached a critical mass, that arch-disruptor of the London legal biome since August 2023 - Paul Weiss - is unlikely to make too many more market distorting hires in that space. Paul Weiss, and other elite US firms, will of course continue to hire, and indeed, Edwards Gibson is aware of a number of Paul Weiss related re-stock hires by other firms still working their way through the system, but the pace of these hires is likely to slow.

 

the economics of star hires is difficult to justify, and we are already hearing that there is pushback from some Stateside partners at US firms about the eyewatering costs of recent London recruitment.

 

Despite an anaemic UK economy, Big Law market fundamentals actually improved in 2024 – both UK and European M&A were up and, in the last quarter of the year, even direct real estate teams were reporting increased activity. Nevertheless, economic uncertainty, especially following the recent US election, makes predictions going forward particularly problematic. On the one hand, deregulation and tax cuts in the US are expected to unleash an M&A boom – at least some of which will likely benefit London law firms, on the other, accelerated deglobalisation and inflationary policies– such as trade tariffs - could slow the economy and cause interest rates to spike.

 

If so, that will be a particular problem for Big Law because its more than decade long dynamo - the private capital industry - is almost entirely predicated on low interest rates. For law firms, any long-term return to high, or even historically “normal”, interest rates will severely curtail transactional private equity, debt finance and (often forgotten by law firms themselves) litigation funding. In the medium term this would likely have a disproportionately negative impact on US law firms in London.

 

CLICK THE DOWNLOAD LINK BELOW FOR OUR FULL NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2024 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 Move

 

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• 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