UK scores record promotions at Mayer Brown

Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw (MBRM) has announced its partner promotions for the year, more than quadrupling the number of London promotions compared to last year.

In all, 39 new partners have been made up worldwide, with 13 in Europe. Chicago, the firm’s historic US headquarters, saw the bulk of the promotions with 12.

London scored nine new partners, a dramatic increase on last year when it only received two. Five of the latest promotions were in the corporate group, with two in litigation.

London senior partner Paul Maher said: “We are sending a strong message to the market that we anticipate significant and continued growth here in Europe and globally.”

Worldwide by practice area, litigation benefited the most with 12 new partners, followed by corporate which garnered nine. Corporate and litigation are the two biggest practice areas for the firm.

The 39 new partners are now in line to enjoy worldwide average profits per partner (PEP) of £546,000.

The UK arm of MBRM moved away from a modified lockstep to merit-based compensation for partners in 2005. UK partners reported average PEP of £480,000 last year.

As of January 2007, the firm is to adopt a UK-style compensation system for partners, designed to encourage collegiate behaviour (as first reported in The Lawyer, 9 October).

This is important as global expansion is the top priority for MBRM. The 1,535-lawyer firm launched its first Chinese full-service office in Hong Kong last week.