Law Firm Partner Moves in London - Issue 94

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Welcome to the 94^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 this is our methodology.

 

• July – August 2026

 

Our July-August edition, traditionally the quietest period of the year for partner hire announcements, contains 81 partner moves, narrowly beating the previous record for the same two-month period - 79 - set in 2024. This represents 16% growth on the 70 moves recorded in the same period last year and is 14% up on the cumulative five-year average (71); and 31% above the cumulative ten-year average (62) for the same period.

 

The most covetous firms this edition were Ashfords, BCLP, DAC Beachcroft and Seyfarth Shaw which hired 4 partners each, followed by Paul Hastings, Simmons & Simmons and Simpson Thacher which hired 3 partners apiece.

 

• Top partner recruiters in London July – August 2026

 

Ashfords	4	(4 laterals)
BCLP	4	(3 laterals)
DAC Beachcroft	4	(4 laterals)
Seyfarth Shaw	4	(4 laterals)
Paul Hastings	3	(2 laterals)
Simmons & Simmons	3	(2 laterals)
Simpson Thacher	3	(2 laterals)

 

In addition, 13 firms hired 2 partners each: Addleshaw Goddard, Ashurst Perkins Coie, Bird & Bird, Bristows, CMS, DLA Piper, Edwin Coe, Gibson Dunn, Jones Day, Katten, Mishcon de Reya, Simons Muirhead Burton and Wedlake Bell.                          

                                                                         

On the other side of the coin, over the same period, Mishcon de Reya suffered the highest attrition, losing 6 serving partners to rivals in London followed by DWF and RPC which both lost 3.

 

• Firms with largest attrition in July – August 2026 (partnership to partnership moves only)

 

Mishcon de Reya	6
DWF	3
RPC	3
Browne Jacobson	2
Charles Russell Speechlys	2
DLA Piper	2
Eversheds Sutherland	2
RWK Goodman	2
Simpson Thacher	2

 

 

• Team hires July – August 2026

 

The largest multi-partner team move of this edition was Chicago-headquartered Seyfarth Shaw’s acquisition of a four-partner corporate team from Mishcon de Reya, including its head of corporate (see below). Little known in the London market, Seyfarth Shaw opened in the City in 2011 and has predominantly been operating as an employment boutique ever since. The acquisition of Mishcon's four-partner team almost doubles the size of its London partnership and represents its most significant London expansion to date.

Following that, two firms hired two-partner teams: DAC Beachcroft (which recruited two separate partner duos, one in cyber insurance from RPC and the other in public health from Browne Jacobson) and Wedlake Bell (which hired a commercial disputes team from RWK Goodman).

 

• A Mishcon-strued attempt at stability?

 

This edition records the defection of five serving corporate partners from Mishcon de Reya to rivals: four, including its head of corporate, to US firm Seyfarth Shaw (see above), and a private equity partner to Charles Russell Speechlys, who swiftly reunites with his former head of department, who arrived at the firm in May.

These departures, perhaps together with the loss of the firm's head of construction to DLA in July, coincide with reports that Mishcon de Reya considered amendments to its partnership agreement that would have made it considerably harder for partners to resign in certain circumstances. Indeed, according to the Financial Times, the proposed changes would have prevented other partners in a practice area from even submitting notice if more than 20 per cent of partners in that area had already resigned.

Perhaps owing to the adverse publicity, the proposal, which would arguably have amounted to a lock-in for the remaining partners in the corporate team at Mishcon de Reya, was ultimately abandoned.

History suggests that firms rarely contemplate partner lock-ins, or, as Linklaters recently discovered, measures designed to withhold profit distributions from departing laterals, from a position of strength. While such initiatives are generally intended to promote stability, they risk creating precisely the opposite impression – or even a run on the bank - in a market where confidence and momentum matter.

 

• Slaughter and Mayfly

 

Of particular note in this edition is Simpson Thacher's hire of sponsor-facing infrastructure M&A lateral Murray Cox from fellow New Yorker Weil. Whilst this may look like little more than another expensive intra-US-firm transfer, Cox occupies a distinctive place in London lateral hiring folklore. When he defected to Weil in 2021, Cox was a highly regarded Slaughter and May partner in his prime - not even remotely close to that firm’s mandatory retirement age. Even now, he remains one of perhaps only two or three serving Slaughter and May partners whom the famously cohesive Magic Circle firm would have genuinely preferred to retain.  

Cox's 2021 departure neatly foreshadowed the argument that, where Slaughter and May has lost partners it would rather have kept, they have been private capital-facing corporate names and that, the further Slaughters pushes into sponsor-led private capital, the more exposed it becomes to the economic pull of US law firms.  However, Cox's latest move also illustrates another consequence of the remorseless economics of post-financial-crisis Big Law: in a market where the portability of sponsor relationships is king, trophy private capital laterals are statistically amongst the most likely to move again.

 

• “Now AI become death, the destroyer (and occasional hirer) of lawyers …”

 

While legal tech providers and commentators are fond of highlighting both the opportunities and challenges presented by the emergence of agentic AI, most seem to agree that it is likely to result in a dramatic reduction in the number of lawyers, particularly at the junior end of the profession, not to mention posing an existential threat to the traditional Big Law model. Elsewhere, however, AI may finally be emerging as a lateral hiring theme in its own right.

While data, privacy and cyber have long featured as scions of the broader technology practice in partner recruitment, this edition records a number of appointments with expressly AI-focused mandates spanning legal transformation, governance, regulation and managed legal services. Although still a relatively small sample, the trend may indicate that law firms are increasingly viewing AI expertise as a standalone strategic capability rather than merely an extension of traditional technology practices. At least until AI eats them…

 

• Other Fun Facts July – August 2026

 

• 32% of moves this edition were female (26).
• 4 firms hired from in-house or business: Latham & Watkins (from Hg Capital), Sharpe Pritchard (from Aberdeen), Cleary Gottlieb (from the Competition and Markets Authority), and Bird & Bird (from Nokia).
• 30% of all moves (24) were moves from non-partnership roles (either moves from in-house or non-partners elevated to partnership upon moving from another law firm).

 

SCROLL BELOW FOR OUR FULL JULY - AUGUST 2026 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

 

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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