Howrey says no thanks to Yanks

Howrey is a rare thing among US firms, especially those US firms that have major growth ambitions in the UK and elsewhere.

Last year the firm that has just posted $457m (£248.37m) in global revenue also posted its sixth consecutive year of growth across its European operations.

From its humble beginnings in 2001, when it boasted a sole London office with a revenue of less than $1m (£510,000), to last year, when the firm's five European offices generated $55.4m (£30.44m), Howrey has maintained an impressive growth trajectory.

But as the firm's managing partner Bob Ruyak told The Lawyer, the key point about the firm's "unique platform" (aside from its sharp focus on patent litigation) is its determination that all of its overseas offices should be headed by local, as opposed to US, lawyers. "I don't want Americans in leadership positions in our European offices," said Ruyak, an American. "If you're going to be a global firm you need European offices to have European heads."

A novel approach.