Cooley’s London managing partner Justin Stock has left the firm to join Akin as international technology practice head, along with two other partners.

Akin has hired three partners from Cooley into its London office. Cooley London managing partner Justin Stock will move to the firm alongside Stephen Rosen, a Legal 500 Hall of Famer for mid-market private equity transactions who headed Cooley’s London corporate practice, and technology transactions partner David Bresnick.

Stock will join Akin as international technology practice head, and will work with Rosen and Bresnick to deepen Akin’s strength in tech transactions.

‘Justin, Stephen and David’s outstanding reputations in the market, coupled with their extensive transactional experience in high growth sectors such as technology and life sciences, significantly enhance our global corporate platform,’ said Akin chair Kim Koopersmith in a statement.

‘Their addition underscores our commitment to our technology focused clients and more broadly to the technology sector both in London and globally, ensuring we continue to provide unmatched client service.’

Akin London partner in charge Sebastian Rice added: ‘The arrival of Justin, Stephen and David is a significant step for our London office and gives Akin a market-leading global technology transactions team, focusing on clients in innovative industries including disruptive commerce, technology, health care, life sciences, data, data privacy, gaming and energy transition. We are particularly excited about their capabilities to grow the tech M&A pipeline and adding depth to our global technology practice.’

Back in February, Cooley also saw the departure of M&A partner Michal Berkner who left for McDermott Will & Emery’s transaction practice.

Stock led a five-partner Morrison Foerster team to Cooley in January 2015 as part of Cooley’s London office launch. Bresnick moved with Stock from Morrison Foerster, while Rosen came to Cooley from Olswang in May 2016. Only one of Cooley’s 2015 Morrison Foerster hires remains at the firm: Chris Coulter. Ed Lukins went to Orrick in 2019 and Nicholas Bolter left for Morgan Lewis in 2020.

Akin, meanwhile, first launched in London in 1997, and burst onto the scene in earnest in 2014 with a 22-partner hire from Bingham McCutchen, which collapsed in 2015.

The departures bring Cooley’s London partner headcount down to 30, according to the firm’s website.

‘We thank Justin, Stephen and David for their contributions and wish them well in the future. We look forward to continuing our ambitious growth plans in London, serving some of the world’s most exciting and disruptive innovators and technology and life sciences companies’, a Cooley spokesperson said in a statement.

alexander.ryan@legalbusiness.co.uk

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Kirkland & Ellis is overhauling its equity partner exit terms – ushering in new policies to withhold compensation for departing partners, as well as slashing notice periods and speeding up the time it takes those leaving to be repaid their capital.

Partners are understood to have unanimously approved the changes earlier this week (16 July), with the move, first revealed by Financial News, meaning equity partners leaving the firm could potentially see millions in accrued compensation withheld by Kirkland, where average PEP stands at nearly $8m and stars are paid significantly more.

Until now, Kirkland has withheld 55% of equity partners’ annual compensation until the following year. The new policy grants Kirkland the option of withholding this accrued compensation from departing partners altogether. It will be at Kirkland’s discretion whether it chooses to withhold the distributions.

In addition, the firm has also approved a change that will reduce the notice period for exiting partners from 120 days to 60 days, effectively returning Kirkland to the notice period it had prior to 2016.

The firm has also slashed the time those leaving will have to wait for their capital to be repaid from 12 months to three months.

The changes to Kirkland’s exit terms on its partnership agreement come after the firm saw a string of high-profile departures to Paul Weiss in London last year.

Debt finance partner Neel Sachdev and buyout partner Roger Johnson left to launch an English law practice for Paul Weiss, going on to bring in equity partners including Timothy Lowe (tax) and Matthew Merkle (capital markets), as well as several non-equity partners.  For more on Kirkland and Paul Weiss, see LB’s feature ‘Market forces: Paul Weiss, Kirkland and the war for London talent’ . 

With new firms likely having to pick up the cost of any potential profit distributions withheld from new recruits, the overhaul will make it more costly to add lateral teams from Kirkland in future.

Danielle Crawford, a partnership counsel at Forsters, said that in practice departing partners would likely not lose out personally because of the change, with their new firms instead picking up the additional cost of matching the withheld distributions.

She told Legal Business: ‘Talking about the discretion to withhold distribution payments for departing partners is very common across the bigger firms especially Kirkland’s competitors. It makes it less attractive for partners to leave, if a firm wants to poach a partner, they might have to make good that loss to persuade the partner to leave.’

Meanwhile speeding up the time it takes to get departing partners out of the door and to receive their capital back will save Kirkland money and it will also be better for firm culture, according to partnership experts.

‘Prolonged departures are not good for team morale/key firm-client relationships,’ added Crawford. ‘There is also a higher risk that the departing partner can take more business from the firm if they continue with client work for a number of months after they have decided to leave.’

Another partnership lawyer said: ‘When someone is so disaffected it’s best to get them out sooner rather than later rather than having them hanging around for a longer period.’

Partners suggest reducing the notice period and time taken to repay capital could well have been sweeteners for partners to get the changes over the line and boost retention. They also bring the firm in line with other firms, which have increasingly been looking at exit terms. Linklaters for example discussed withholding profit from departing partners before deciding against it.

‘It is increasingly common, particularly for the large, high earning US firms,’ said Jon Haley, head of professional partnerships at Farrer & Co.

He added: ‘It has not historically been common in UK legal partnerships but you do not have to look hard to find similar Bad Leaver mechanisms – whereby retained value in some form or other is forfeited on exit – in other high earning sectors such as private equity and financial services, so in some ways the legal profession could be said to be lagging behind and I suspect others will follow soon.’

elisha.juttla@legalbusiness.co.uk

tom.cox@legalease.co.uk

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Linklaters has leapt to first place in Stonewall’s Top 100 Employers 2024 list, while last year’s number one Clifford Chance has dropped outside of the top ten for the first time since 2020 and is ranked 14^th.

The prominent LGBTQ+ charity assesses its rankings using its workplace equality index, a voluntary benchmarking tool designed to help UK-based organisations measure and improve their LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion. The index measures key areas of employment policy and practice such as staff engagement and the implementation of LGBTQ+-inclusive policies and benefits.

Linklaters has now been ranked in the top 100 for six consecutive years. Its surge to first follows a leap from 53^rd to ninth last year, and marks a notable improvement after the firm hovered around the 50s and the 60s between 2019 and 2022.

In explaining its decision to award first place to Linklaters, Stonewall praised the ‘plethora of opportunities [for employees] to get involved in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives’ at the firm, and highlighted that ‘events like bi visibility day and non-binary people’s day are celebrated as part of the annual LGBTQ+ calendar’.

Twelve law firms in total are included in the top 100 ranking – up from 11 in last year’s list but down from 15 in 2022. Among those, Charles Russell Speechlys, has climbed significantly higher in the rankings, while   Slaughter and May  and Shepherd and Wedderburn are notable reentries, having not featured in 2023.

In contrast, Irwin Mitchell, RPC and Womble Bond Dickinson have all moved down the rankings. Meanwhile, TLT, which placed 96^th last year; Mills & Reeve, which placed 38^th in 2023 and Leigh Day which placed 25^th last year, have not made the 2024 rankings.

The Stonewall list has shown the legal profession in a good light in recent years. 2024 marks the third time in the last six years that a law firm has ranked first, with Pinsent Masons taking the top spot in 2019 and Clifford Chance in 2023.

tom.cox@legalease.co.uk

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Building on last year’s record performance, Herbert Smith Freehills has achieved its 11th consecutive year of annual revenue growth in its latest financial results.

The firm reported a 10% increase in revenue, rising from £1.186bn to £1.306bn. Net profit and profit per equity partner (PEP) also saw strong growth, with increases of 14.5% and 12% respectively. PEP rose from £1.173m to £1.315m, while total profit went from £388.2m to £444.5m.

Reflecting on this sustained growth in a statement, CEO Justin D’Agostino commented: ‘Our focus on our clients, core practices and priority sectors keep up in the leading pack of international law firms.’

He continued: ‘Our strategy has strong momentum, delivering continuous and sustainable growth across all practice areas and regions. Our well-hedged international business across a broad mix of geographies, sectors and practices makes the firm resilient.’

The firm identifies the UK as a very strong performer, and notes growth across Australia, Asia, EMEA, and the US.

‘We remain committed to our international network, investing strategically in areas such as private capital, energy transition, ESG and digital across all of our practice groups, sectors and regions’, said D’Agostino.

While last year HSF noted strength in disputes in a tough climate for transactional work, this year the firm was positive on its performance across the board: ‘our ‘twin-engines’ of transactional and contentious expertise drive our business forward’, said D’Agostino.

Disputes highlights include acting for US chip design company R2 Semiconductor in High Court proceedings against Intel concerning semiconductor patents, as well as successfully representing the Human Dignity Trust on a pro bono basis in Mauritius Supreme Court proceedings that ruled legislation criminalising private, same-sex, consensual activity was unconstitutional.

In the transactional space, notable mandates include advising Stonepeak on its €730 million acquisition of a 49% stake in Cellnex Nordics from Cellnex Telecom. Furthermore, HSF assisted Interpath Advisory in the sale of Toucan Energy’s solar portfolio to Schroders Greencoat for approximately £700m.

HSF expanded its global team with 14 new lateral partner hires across all regions. In its latest promotion round, the firm appointed 27 new partners, with 52% of these promotions going to women. This contributes to HSF’s overall female partnership, which now stands at 33%, marking an 18% increase since the establishment of gender targets in 2014. Looking ahead, HSF aims to achieve 40% female partners by May 2030, with aspirations for parity — 50% representation — in certain parts of the firm, such as Australia, in that time.

In addition to its personnel achievements, HSF reported providing over 80,000 hours of pro bono advice globally, and remains committed to supporting innovators and entrepreneurs through initiatives like The Earthshot Prize. This year, the firm also launched its Leading Digital Delivery practice.

D’Agostino commented: ‘I am proud of our achievements in the face of significant change and challenge in many of our markets. We continue to work closely with our clients to navigate this new world, by getting ahead of their opportunities, needs and concerns.’

anna.huntley@legalease.co.uk

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Ashurst global PE co-head exits to O’Melveny; Hogan Lovells hires from K&L Gates and Weil and Kirkland picks up a CC tech partner

O’Melveny & Myers has expanded its London office with the hires of Ashurst private equity partners David Carter and Braeden Donnelly, bringing O’Melveny’s London partner headcount to seven.

Carter,  a Legal 500 Hall of Famer for mid-market private equity transactions, was global co-head of Ashurst’s PE practice, and brings over 20 years of experience in leveraged buyouts, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate reconstructions. Donnelly, a partner at Ashurst for five years, has experience advising on UK and multijurisdictional PE transactions for clients including Agilitas, CapVest, and Liberty Hall Capital Partners.

Commenting on their departures, Ashurst’s global CEO Paul Jenkins told Legal Business: ‘We wish David and Braeden the very best. We also made some significant hires and internal promotions, so for us it’s a matter of continuing to invest and look for opportunities to continue to grow that team.’

Also active in PE was Hogan Lovells, which has hired K&L Gates partner James Cross and Weil acquisition finance counsel Nick Cusack as a partner. This follows last month’s hire of special situations partner Sam Norris from Ropes & Gray, signaling continued growth in the firm’s largest office.

Cross’s expertise includes advising investors and management on buyouts, restructurings, and bolt-on acquisitions, with notable experience in complex cross-border transactions for Chinese and US investors.

Cusack, a specialist in leveraged finance transactions, has a focus on private credit.

Global corporate & finance practice group head James Doyle emphasised the strategic importance of the hires, stating: ‘Their arrival helps us to continue to service the increasingly important and sophisticated global private capital market across the full investment life cycle.’

Elsewhere, André Duminy has joined Kirkland & Ellis as a partner in the firm’s technology and IP transactions practice, concluding a nearly 25-year tenure at Clifford Chance.

Specialising in technology and business separation issues, as well as multi-vendor and multijurisdictional carveout transactions, Duminy is set to enhance the firm’s tech and IP transactions offering, alongside its broader M&A practice in Europe.

‘André’s skillset strongly supports out private equity and financial sponsor clients’ investments across relevant asset classes,’ said Kirkland corporate partner and executive committee member Matthew Elliott in a statement. ‘His hire will help spearhead the development of the London Technology & IP Transactions practice as our transactional offering continues to evolve and drive growth opportunities,’ he continued.

Simmons & Simmons has also strengthened its London PE offering with its hire of Richard Kyle, who joins from Eversheds after over two decades.

‘It’s an excellent time to join, with the firm prioritising the expansion of its mid-market private equity offering. With strong EU transactional and financing capabilities, a wide international network, and a sector focus aligned with that of my clients, Simmons is a fantastic fit for my practice,’ Kyle said in a statement.

Covington & Burling has enhanced its EMEA PE practice with the addition of partners Lyndsey Laverack and Jade Williams-Adedeji in London, complementing the February hire of Paul Hastings’ Adrian Chiodo as European leveraged finance practice head.

Laverack, previously at Sidley Austin, focuses on PE and cross-border M&A, particularly in equity investments in real estate and social infrastructure assets. Williams-Adedeji, also joining from Sidley after over almost two decades, advises clients on the real estate investment cycle, including debt and equity investments, as well as direct asset acquisitions and disposals.

Meanwhile, White & Case has expanded its investment funds practice and global private equity industry group with its hire of Alexandra Chauvin as a secondaries partner in London.

Chauvin, who joins from Ropes & Gray where she led the European secondaries team, brings extensive experience in US and European secondaries transactions.

Chauvin marks the firm’s third recent hire from Ropes: Emily Brown joined as investment funds practice head last November after making partner at Ropes in April 2021, followed by Lavanya Raghavan, who was a counsel at Ropes and joined W&C as a partner in March.

‘With deep experience in the US and Europe, Alexandra will strengthen our funds and secondaries capabilities globally and be well-placed to capitalize on a market that is growing at speed’, said Brown in a statement.

Elsewhere, Jenner & Block expanded its litigation team with its hire of Legal 500 banking litigation leading individual Edward Davis. Davis joins from Stephenson Harwood, where he co-headed the London litigation practice for 25 years, handling complex banking and fund-related matters, fraud cases, and corporate disputes.

Also active in disputes was Fladgate, which hired Ashurst counsel Thomas Karalis into its dispute resolution group as a partner. A Legal 500 international arbitration rising star, Karalis joins with over 15 years’ experience, and brings the firm’s London partner headcount to just shy of 100.

Shoosmiths has grown its London employment practice with the addition of Adam Lambert, who joins from BCLP, where he led the UK employment and labour group. Lambert brings nearly 30 years of experience to complement Shoosmiths’ 50-strong national employment team.

Additionally, Rachel Orton has joined Clyde & Co as a partner in the firm’s real estate team. Formerly partner and head of senior living at Addleshaw Goddard, Orton brings experience in advising on healthcare and living sector developments, including hospitals, supported living, dementia care assets, and infrastructure transactions.

Finally, looking overseas, Freshfields continued its run of aggressive US expansion with its hire of Skadden tax head Steven Matays into its New York tax practice.

Matays brings over 20 years of experience in handling complex U.S. and international tax matters, focusing on M&A, spinoffs, debt and equity offerings, corporate restructurings, and joint ventures.

Matays said in a statement: ‘Freshfields is the firm to watch in the US. I’ve been impressed by how the firm has become a go-to outside counsel for the most important assignments of high-profile clients especially in M&A over the last few years. I’m excited to be a part of this vibrant team and I look forward to contributing to the next phase of growth.’

anna.huntley@legalease.co.uk

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Ashurst is targeting expansion in the US as the firm announces financial results that show profit per equity partner reaching a record high and turnover just shy of £1bn.

The firm’s 2023-24 financial results show revenue climbed 9% to £961m, while PEP went up by 14% to hit £1.336m – a record-high figure that more than makes up for a slight decline last year that edged it down from £1.175m to £1.17m.

The revenue increase marks Ashurst’s eight consecutive year of growth, although is is slightly below last year’s increase of 10% and the previous year’s of 12%.

Global CEO Paul Jenkins told Legal Business he is happy with the results for the first year of the firm’s 2027 strategy: ‘We’re clear on where we want to focus, in terms of geography, sectors and practice areas, and it’s very good to see the fruits of that focus.’

He is also optimistic about his firm’s prospects of crossing of crossing a key milestone: ‘We’re in line to cross a billion pounds in revenue for this financial year.’

More than 85% of the firm’s turnover came from its five key sectors: banks and private capital, real estate, technology, infrastructure, and energy and resources, the last of which accounted for 23% of the firm’s revenue.

‘We’re starting to see a bounceback in transactional work’, said Jenkins. ‘But what we saw last year was particular activity in the energy sector, which translated to growth in a variety of areas, including projects, disputes, and corporate M&A.’

The firm’s disputes, investigations and advisory practice grew by 10%, while projects and energy transition was up by 11%, with ‘double-digit growth’ in corporate in Korea, Australia, Singapore, France, Italy, and the UK, and 10% growth in funds and restructuring across Asia Pacific. The firm also saw a strong performance in its consultancy and governance division (up 47%) and its Ashurst Advance business (up 16%), which launched a third global delivery centre in Krakow this February.

The UK, US, and Middle East all outperformed the firmwide revenue increase, with turnover bumps of 13%, 18%, and 17%, respectively. The firm also cited ‘significant growth in Singapore and a solid year in Australia’, with Italy and France as ‘standout jurisdictions’ in continental Europe.

The US growth rate was slightly slower than the 20% increase reported last year, however Jenkins said the firm has ambitious growth plans, targeting energy, real estate, private capital, and technology for further growth stateside.

Jenkins commented: ‘In the US, we’ve continued to double down on infrastructure and financial institutions. We continue to look for the right opportunities in our other key areas of focus. We’re looking for both incremental growth and more significant growth – whether it’s teams or otherwise. But we’ll only do that if it’s the right opportunity from a business perspective, and the right opportunity hasn’t arisen yet.’

US highlights over the last year include derivatives partner Nick Allen joining the New York office from Fried Frank in April, and Los Angeles projects and energy transition specialist Tristan Robinson being made up to partner in the firm’s most recent round of promotions.

The firm has secured a number of notable mandates. Ashurst’s London team is advising real estate investment trust Tritax Big Box REIT on a £3.9bn recommended all-share combination with UK Commercial Property REIT. Globally, the firm’s London and Hong Kong teams also advised The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation on the provision of its digital assets platform, known as HSBC Orion, to the Central Moneymarkets Unit of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

One area in which Jenkins sees opportunities, in the US and elsewhere, is private capital. Global private equity practice co-head David Carter left the firm for O’Melveny & Myers last week. However, Jenkins noted that Ashurst promoted PE senior associate Sara Hamzawi to the partnership in April, and pointed to firmwide experience in the broader private capital space beyond private equity.

Finally, Jenkins also highlighted the firm’s pro bono work: ‘Social responsibility is often not touched on in this context, but it’s very important to the firm, and we had our strongest pro bono year ever, at over 65,000 hours across the global firm.’

Alexander.ryan@legalbusiness.co.uk

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A clutch of major law firms have continued the trend for strong 2023-24 results, with Brodies, Shoosmiths, Clyde & Co and Watson Farley & Williams among the latest to reveal healthy financial figures.

Brodies has today (15 July) posted a 7.5% revenue increase to hit £114.3m, marking 14 consecutive years of growth for the firm after it hit a key milestone last year when it became the first Scottish firm to pass the £100m mark.

After a 6% bump last year, profit held steady with a 1.2% increase from £48.6m to £49.2m. Profit per equity partner (PEP) also stayed flat at £846,000.

Managing partner Stephen Goldie, who replaced Nick Scott in May following Scott’s retirement, said that the firm has made progress across all core practice areas – banking and finance, corporate and commercial, dispute resolution and risk, personal and family, and real estate. ‘Our strategic plans for the next three-year cycle are now underway and we look to the future with confidence, in ourselves and in the resilience and ambitions of the clients that we work with,’ he said in a statement.

Clydes has also posted a strong set of results, with revenue up 10% to £845m, and PEP up by more than 4% to £739,000, with profit up 3% to £174.4m.

The headline turnover increase comes after the 22% increase the firm notched last year, though only 6% of that was ‘organic growth’, with the rest of the bump accounted for by the completion of Clydes’ merger with BLM.

Clydes continued to expand this year, opening new offices in Warsaw and Jeddah in December and May respectively. The UK accounted for 47% of the firm’s total revenue, with the proportion of revenue generated outside the UK a percentage point down on last year’s 54%.

Europe was the fastest growing region with a 17% increase in turnover. The shares accounted for by the US and Asia-Pacific were each down by half a percentage point on last year, to 21.5% and 11.5% respectively. The Middle East and Africa accounted for 12% of the firm’s turnover and Latin America for 2% – the same proportions as last year, while the UK saw 9% growth.

Watson Farley & Williams has also posted double-digit growth of 11%, with revenue at £238.4m, up from £214.7m last year.

Overall profit also rose by 7.2% to £66.8m from £62.3m, with PEP remaining steady at £593,000, a slight increase of 1.5% from last year’s £584,000. Equity partner numbers, meanwhile, went up nearly 6% from 107 to an estimated total of 113.

Commenting on these results in a statement, managing partner Lindsey Keeble said: ‘We continue to build on the successes of previous years with double digit global income growth. With a majority equity partnership, we continue to invest in the firm to build a sustainable business with strength and depth at all levels.’

Revenue was also up at Charles Russell Speechlys, where a 13% bump took turnover to £218.3m after a 9% increase last year.

Profit was up by more than 20% to £45.9m, while PEP went up more than 30% to hit £661,000, comfortably offsetting last year’s 3% dip.

The firm’s UK offices generated £174.4m (a little under 80%), with £43.9m from overseas. International revenue growth was faster than the firmwide average, at 15%, with the Luxembourg, Paris, and Switzerland offices singled out as strong performers. The firm also reported 30% revenue growth in Asia, boosted by lateral hires and the July launch of its Singapore office.

‘Our results this year paint a picture of sustained growth’, said managing partner Simon Ridpath in a statement. ‘The fact we continue to see strong revenue and profit numbers and investments back into the firm bodes well for the future, and we remain fully confident in our strategy.’

The firm’s strategy still has private capital as a ‘core focus’ according to Ridpath who also mentioned the ‘raft of senior lateral hires across the firm’, referencing the 22 partners the firm has taken on since the last financial year.

At Shoosmiths, meanwhile, revenue ticked up 5% to push the firm over the £200m mark for the first time to hit £206.7m. Profit was up 5% to £66m, while PEP jumped 16% to £781,000.

Though the increase in turnover was slightly below both the 7% the firm posted last year and the previous year’s 8%, the firm exceeded last year’s performance on profit, which increased 3% last year, and PEP, which went up by just £1,000. The corporate and litigation departments both outperformed the wider firm at 15% and 12% growth respectively, while real estate stayed flat.

elisha.juttla@legalbusiness.co.uk

alexander.ryan@legalbusiness.co.uk

tom.cox@legalease.co.uk

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Skadden London head Richard Youle on a year in management and scaling up London Skadden-style.

‘We’ve had a massive amount of change in the last year,’ says Skadden London head Richard Youle as he sits down to discuss his first year at the helm of the City base.

Youle, who took over as Skadden’s London head from Pranav Trivedi in July 2023 while also maintaining his global co-head of private equity post alongside Ken Wolff in New York, says much of the change has been around how the office and practices are organised.

‘We’ve seen some people step-up into new heads of practice-areas and we looked at the size and shape of our teams and promoted and recruited, where appropriate, to ensure we continue to be a great place to work and can continue to attack the market as powerful challengers,’ he explains.

Practice changes have included Legal 500 leading individuals Katja Butler and George Knighton becoming co-heads of Skadden’s UK corporate practice, while Kate Davies KC has taken over as head of the firm’s international litigation and arbitration group.

The firm has also added a number of lateral partners, including two former Linklaters partners: capital markets partner Noel Hughes, who joined in December, and financial regulatory partner Sebastian Barling, who joined in March this year. Meanwhile the banking practice welcomed  Sebastian FitzGerald from Willkie Farr & Gallagher in January.

‘We’re not Real Madrid signing the best player in the world every year, that’s not what we do,’ says Youle, explaining that growth across the firm’s practices is always strategic.

The firm may not recruit as many laterals as rivals such as Kirkland & Ellis, Latham or Paul Weiss but it has increased lawyer count by 62% since 2019, making it the tenth largest firm in LB’s Global London 2024 table by headcount with 227 fee earners. The tally means that within the top 10, Skadden has seen the second biggest increase in lawyer count over the five year period, behind Kirkland.

Youle says he’s applying some of the experience he’s gained on deals to build the office further. He jokes: ‘I never knew coming in that you could scale an office in the same way as you can scale a deal, which I’ve done for donkey’s years, so it was a nice surprise.’

He is keen to stress that lateral recruitment is less important to the firm than internal promotions, which most recently saw Jisun Choi appointed as a tax partner and Nicholas Adams promoted to partner in the UK disputes team, which has seen David Edwards leave to join Simpson Thacher and white collar partner Elizabeth Robertson leave to launch new investigations firm Robertson Pugh Associates.

‘Homegrown talent is most important,’ he says. ‘While I anticipate growth for our office – it will be a considered and strategic mix of lateral hires that fit with our culture and promoting through the ranks.’

Discussing his strategy for the past year, Youle says each practice in the office has been looking at how they can ‘win’.

He adds: ‘I run deals for a living and my leadership style is to break things down into very small pieces.

‘What we’ve done as an office is we’ve really broken things down, both with professional services and practices – working out where we need to position ourselves for the next 10 years of growth.’

When asked how he’d define winning, Youle responds: ‘Winning for me is continuing to ensure we have a laser-focus on client development and client relationships – right from our professional staff, through to our trainees and our partners.’

‘We are nothing, if not for our clients and our people – so I want to ensure we are continuing to provide our clients with that differentiated service, and also providing our people with an engaging environment within which to work and develop.’

In the past year, Skadden has secured a number of notable mandates, including advising BlackRock on its $3.2bn acquisition of UK investment data group Preqin and advising International Paper on its $7.2bn acquisition of FTSE 100 packaging company DS Smith, alongside Slaughter and May and Sidley.

Looking back on the firm’s successes, Youle maintains that the team’s biggest achievement is ‘how we’ve challenged ourselves on culture around the office.’

He says that the firm introduced Skadden Spirit, a campaign focused on promoting its core values through cultural ambassadors, with over 30 ambassadors within the firm already participating.

‘Ambassadors help decide how we are going to focus on a particular core value every few months – whether that be motivational speakers or events or even making small tweaks to our existing offerings including our affinity groups and well-being initiatives,’ concluded Youle.

elisha.juttla@legalbusiness.co.uk

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Legacy Allen & Overy saw revenue nudge up 3.4% in the last financial year before its transatlantic merger, against a surge in profits that took average PEP to £2.2m.

A&O Shearman has announced that turnover for the legacy UK firm edged up a modest 3.4% to £2.2bn for the financial year ended 30 April 2024.

The revenue increase is significantly lower than last year’s uptick of 8%, which saw A&O cross the £2bn mark for the first time, becoming the first magic circle firm to do so. Clifford Chance joined it in the £2bn club a week later, with Linklaters only following suit a year later when it this month confirmed that its revenue hit £2.1bn in 2023-24. 

While turnover growth at legacy A&O, which formally merged with Shearman & Sterling under the A&O Shearman banner on 1 May, was modest across the last financial year, profit growth was not: the firm reported an increase in profit before tax of more than 17% to a total of £1bn. 

This increase took average profits per equity partner (PEP) to £2.2m – up more than 21% from the £1.816m reported in last year’s LB100. Last year, by contrast, A&O reported a slight dip in profit and a 6.6% drop in PEP. 

Announcing its financial results, the firm said in a statement that the results had benefitted from a strategic partnership with Inflexion for its aosphere platform. The deal, announced in October 2023, saw the PE house make a strategic investment alongside A&O and US investor Endicott Capital in the legal and compliance data platform, leaving A&O a minority shareholder.

Although legacy A&O’s revenue growth for the last financial year is well short of the 10% Linklaters reported for the same period, its topline figure remains ahead. Its PEP is also higher, with Linklaters reporting a 10.3% increase in profit and an 8% jump in average PEP to £1.9m.

The positive results for legacy A&O come after Shearman saw revenue fall 7.7% to $837m in the 2023 calendar year, against a 3.5% increase in average PEP to $2.556m. At today’s Bank of England exchange rate, legacy A&O’s PEP for 2023-24 converts to $2.823m.

Last year’s Legal Business Global 100 report showed legacy Shearman posting a 10% drop in revenue to $906.9m for the 2022 calendar year. This came alongside an even bigger decline in PEP, which fell 18% to $2.478m.

Going forward, the newly merged firm will run its financial year to 30 April, in line with the legacy UK arm.

Commenting on the results Hervé Ekué, who was elected managing partner of A&O in March and now serves as global managing partner of the merged A&O Shearman, said:

‘In the year leading up to the completion of our merger, we’re pleased to report positive growth for the firm. This is testament to our strategic focus on diversification across regions, practices, and sectors.’

alexander.ryan@legalbusiness.co.uk

The post Legacy Allen & Overy sees profits soar in final year pre-Shearman merger as revenue edges up appeared first on Legal Business.

Linklaters has become the first magic circle firm to announce its 2023-24 financial results, breaking through the £2bn mark for the first time after a double digit increase in revenue.

The firm confirmed record revenue and profits, with revenue climbing 10% from £1.901bn last year to £2.1bn, and pre-tax profit climbing 10.3% to £942m, from last year’s figure of £854m.

This translated to an 8% increase in profit per equity partner (PEP) to £1.9m while average profits across all partners climbed to £1.8m.

The firm highlighted its UK and US operations as standout performers, stating that both had posted their best-ever results. Its US revenues climbed by 24%. Linklaters’ most recent Companies House filing for the financial year ending April 2023 showed that the firm’s global revenue included £823.1m from the UK and £122.2m from the Americas.

Linklaters managing partner Paul Lewis told Legal Business: ‘We’ve been very strong globally – we’ve had our best year ever in the UK and US, Europe has been very strong and, notwithstanding a challenging market in China, you can look across the firm and it’s been strong across the board.’

‘We want to be bigger in the US’, he added, pointing to the January hire of a six-lawyer M&A team from Shearman & Sterling as a statement of intent. Led by Legal 500 Hall of Famer for $1bn-plus M&A deals George Casey, the team also includes partners Heiko Schiwek and Gregory Gewirtz.

‘The team hire in January has been a real success on all fronts. That was the start and by no means the end and we are actively looking to hire more. We’ve changed the system so that we have the ability to pay at very competitive levels,’ Lewis continued.

Discussing the practice drivers for the firm’s growth, Lewis said: ‘As part of our strategy, we’ve focused on six areas: high-end M&A, contentious mandates, complex financings, restructuring and insolvency, energy transition and tech. We’ve focused on investing in those areas, including lateral hires and partner elections, and when I look across the piece at the results, we’re on track and those investments are working.’

In the deals arena, Linklaters is advising UK drinks maker Britvic on its takeover by Carlsberg for £3.3bn, opposite Baker McKenzie. The firm is also advising UK homebuilder Barratt Developments on its proposed £2.5bn merger with Redrow, as well as multinational packaging group Mondi on its £5bn acquisition of DS Smith.

In restructuring, Linklaters’ team advised Crédit Agricole on the cross-border restructuring of global engineering and construction business McDermott International. Meanwhile, in disputes, the firm took on competition litigation mandates for Visa and has also been advising Experian on data protection related challenges.

Linklaters elected 27 new partners and 49 new counsel in its most recent promotion round, meeting its 40% global gender diversity target for female partner promotions, and its 15% target for under-represented minority ethnic partners (UK and US). The firm also recorded 55,000 hours globally on pro-bono work – its highest ever.

However the firm has seen a number of exits over the last year, with public M&A partner Dan Schuster-Woldan and antitrust partner Nicole Kar both leaving to join Paul Weiss’s ambitious London office.

Although Linklaters has changed its partner remuneration structure to make it easier to compete with high-paying US firms, Lewis stressed that competition goes beyond money.

He said: ‘It’s not all about money. It’s about doing the best work for the best clients. We are in 21 jurisdictions, and we can offer high-end, elite advice in all the places we are in. That is a competitive advantage because you’re trying to do the big complex, cross-border matters and that’s where we excel, with our seamless network making the difference.’

‘We’re focused on what we can deliver rather than worrying too much about what others are doing,’ he concluded.

elisha.juttla@legalbusiness.co.uk

The post ‘We’ve had our best year ever in the UK and US’ – Linklaters breaks £2bn revenue barrier with double-digit growth appeared first on Legal Business.