Brits a go go for US firms in London

There’s a lot of rotation going on at US firms in London right now.

As we reported yesterday, Baker Botts has appointed a new London head in the shape of Steve Wardlaw, an energy lawyer and the former head of the US firm’s Moscow office.

Now Winston & Strawn has jumped on the rotational roundabout, implementing a wide-ranging changing of the guard that has included the appointment of former Ashurst litigation partner Michael Madden as its new London office managing partner.

Madden’s appointment comes several months after the US firm ramped up significantly with the hire of 23 partners from the now-defunct firm Dewey & LeBoeuf, including, in London, competition specialist Peter Crowther (10 May 2012).

Both Wardlaw and Madden are Brits, a fact that further underlines the level to which the major US firms are now part of the furniture in the City. For more on this see the top 30 international firms in the UK section in next month’s UK 200 Annual Report, which will put into perspective precisely how ingrained these mostly US firms are these days.

Spoiler alert - neither Winston nor Baker Botts make the list.

Also on www.thelawyer.com:

• DLA Piper becomes the latest to eye up opportunities in Seoul
  
  
• Wilson Sonsini jumps on the Hong Kong law practice bandwagon
  
  
• Ashurst has beefed up its German tax team with a hire from Mayer Brown in Frankfurt