International

The Passport: It’s finally happened – Dentons has been dethroned

Welcome to The Passport, your regular round-up of the most important stories to come from the European legal market. In this edition, we look at how CMS zoomed past Dentons in the Polish lawyer headcount stakes; why you might have to get used to the idea of three firms with ‘Snellman’ in their name; and […]

Paris Autumn

European 100 firm splits into two boutiques

The French legal market has welcomed a new boutique this week as CGR Avocats opens its doors following the breakup of its predecessor firm earlier this year. European 100 firm LPA-CGR Avocats finally split in May, bringing an end to the seven-year partnership between Lefèvre Pelletier & Associés and CGR Legal. CGR Avocats relaunched at […]

tornado

Climate crisis: Half of DLA Piper’s assets could be destroyed by tornadoes

With law firms increasingly looking at the risks to their business caused by climate change, DLA Piper has found that 47 per cent of its assets worldwide are vulnerable to tornadoes. The findings follow an assessment of the climate change risks facing the firm. According to the firm’s most recent accounts, the analysis also revealed […]

paris

Spotlight: Bredin Prat prepares for wave of ESG disputes

A turbulent election and the upcoming Paris Olympics: there’s plenty of eyes on France this summer. As its people gear up to celebrate la Fête Nationale Française, Bastille Day, this Sunday, we turn our attention to Bredin Prat and the French disputes market. The market: With a seat of the Unified Patents Court (UPC) and […]

Arc de Triomphe, France

Paris consolidation heats up as Mayer Brown hires 30-strong team

Mayer Brown has followed hotly on Paul Hastings’ heels to strengthen significantly in Paris, hiring 30 lawyers from a local firm. The Lawyer understands that Mayer Brown is hiring two-thirds of the total lawyer headcount at French firm Ayache to bolster its transactional team in the French capital. Altogether, The Lawyer understands that seven Ayache corporate/M&A […]

Copenhagen, Denmark

Danish firm cuts roles amid real estate downturn

Danish big five firm Accura has made a handful of redundancies in its real estate team, citing sustained macroeconomic pressures that have supressed deal flow. The firm declined to specify how many lawyers in its team had left the firm, instead calling the move a “minor adjustment of the real estate organisation to the current […]

BDB Pitmans prioritises US firms for network launch

BDB Pitmans is throwing its entire weight into finding mid-market US firms to join its soon-to-be-launched international network, Broadfield. The Lawyer understands there is space in the proposed network for multiple US firms with BDB Pitmans managing partner John Hutchinson describing the UK and US as “starting points” for its grand plan. The firm announced […]

Cleary: We can pay lateral partner hires $20m too

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has prepared the groundwork for its first $20m partner lateral hire, if it “can find that special person”, The Lawyer can reveal. The move comes as Cleary looks to build on an unprecedented growth spurt in the City over the past few years, which has seen partner headcount increase by […]

Candey, British Virgin Islands office

Candey jets to Caribbean with BVI office launch

Litigation boutique Candey has opened an office in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), marking the firm’s crossover into the offshore legal market. The firm is among a handful of firms that practise both BVI law and English law, with several of its lawyers already able to practise there, including partner Lisa Walmisley and BVI legal […]

Central Park, New York

Uría Menéndez to close New York office in strategic shift

Iberian firm Uría Menéndez will close in New York when its Park Avenue lease expires, after more than three decades in the US. The firm runs with a small staff in New York of just three lawyers, led by office managing partner and corporate lawyer José Félix Zaldivar. Uría Menéndez felt its US strategy would […]

tokyo

Bird & Bird hires from Ashurst for Japan launch

Bird & Bird has announced it will be opening a new office in Tokyo with the hire of Ashurst partner Hiro Iwamura. The primary purpose of the office will be to support the firm’s Japanese clients in the renewable energy, life sciences and technology space with outbound work across Europe, the Middle East and Asia […]

Ho Chi Minh City

Kinstellar breaks into Asia with 21-lawyer tie-up

European giant Kinstellar has gained a foothold in the Southeast Asian legal after securing a joint-venture deal with Vietnamese firm Asia Counsel. Asia Counsel boasts a headcount of just 21 lawyers, including four partners. Its focus has been on assisting foreign multinationals and Vietnamese corporations with expansion, M&A and financial matters. Acting independently for the […]

Sydney Australia

Pogust Goodhead launches Aussie office in mining giant’s “backyard”

Pogust Goodhead has launched an office in Sydney with a warning to Australian corporations that the firm is “ready to hold them to account”. The claimant law firm, which specialises in social and environmental mass claims, has hired Sydney litigation boutique Crichton & Co’s two partners, Amie Crichton and Joshua Carton. It is also looking […]

ASOS GC joins Asia-Pacific travel platform

Online reservation provider Agoda has hired Asos’s former legal chief Anna Suchopar as its general counsel. Suchopar has made the move from ASOS, where she held the role of general counsel and company secretary from 2019. She will take over from Tom Thomas and the new role is based in Bangkok. She will report into […]

Tellman

Ex-Haleon GC moves to Saudi for Aramco role

The ex-general counsel of Haleon has announced that he has joined energy and chemicals business Aramco, which is based in Saudi Arabia. Bjarne Tellman was hired by GSK four years ago to prepare the company for the creation of Haleon, one of the UK’s largest corporate demergers in 20 years. The purpose of the demerger […]

Dentons

Dentons boosts London office with bumper promotions round

Dentons has promoted 12 lawyers to partner in the UK, Ireland and Middle East (UKIME) this year, including nine partners in London. Of the remaining three promotions, two were made in Glasgow and one was made in Abu Dhabi. Most of the promotions have been made in the projects team, with Claudia Thomas and Graham […]

Signal International

In-depth strategic insight and benchmarking of your markets, clients and competitors.

How Europe’s elite firms are using London

London’s importance to the network of European legal services has always been paramount. The City sits on top of the pile in Europe for charge-out rates, for blockbuster moves and for big-spending US firms pinching premium magic circle partners by offering them stacks of cash. Research undertaken by The Lawyer in 2022 suggests that European […]

The European 100 2023

The final report on Signal International for 2023 is The Lawyer‘s flagship European 100. We delve into Europe’s largest firms and analyse their 2022 financial performance, five-yearrevenue and headcount trends, the continent’s key regions and gender diversity among Euro 100 partnerships. Despite a number of factors putting a dampener on 2022, the majority of Europe’s […]

Partner promotions at the Global Top 30 in Europe

For the past three months on the International Signal channel, we have assessed, analysed and attempted to understand headcount patterns in the 30 largest global law firms across the Californian, Asian-Pacific and European legal markets. This month we analyse one key trend which fundamentally underpins headcounts and illustrates where firms allocate their resources and plan […]