International

Paris Autumn

The Passport: Paris is a white-hot litigation market

Welcome to The Passport, your regular round-up of all the most important stories to come from the European legal market. In this edition, litigators have been moving en masse in Paris this year and we take a look into one of the bigger moves; Denmark’s Plesner passed the psychologically impactful DKK1bn mark for the first […]

vodafone

Slaughters and Travers among firms advising on Vodafone’s €8bn Italian sale

Slaughter and May has represented long-time client Vodafone on the telecommunications giant’s latest sale of its Italian business to Swisscom. The Slaughters team was steered by corporate partners Victoria MacDuff and James Cook, along with associates Serena Hopkins, Anika Sethy and Iain Meiklejohn. The firm also fielded a sizeable team of tax, commercial and employment […]

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 […]

New York

Freshfields doubles down on PE with Latham hires

Two Latham & Watkins partners are joining Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s New York office, tasked with building out the magic circle firm’s transactional private equity offering. Neal Reenan and Ian Bushner are the two partners making the move from Latham to Freshfields. While Freshfields has been working on private equity deals for its European and US […]

Hiring surge ahead as Euro firms double down in London

A raft of Europe’s elite law firms are set to increase their lawyer headcount and office space in London as they sense greater opportunity in the capital than ever before. Research undertaken by The Lawyer for an upcoming report on the International Signal channel found that around one-third (11) of European 100 law firms with […]

Net zero

National Grid launches tender for multimillion-pound net zero panel

British utility company National Grid has kicked off a major tender for legal services as it looks to create a dedicated net zero panel worth £250m. Law firms appointed to the roster will support National Grid with its business ambitions and net zero projects for the next eight years. The panel spots have been separated […]

Lexington Avenue

Merger moves: A&O and Shearman reveal New York and London office plans

Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling have set out plans concerning the integration of staff in New York and London, its two largest offices worldwide. The Lawyer can confirm that A&O’s New York staff will move into Shearman’s building in the Big Apple, while A&O’s London office will take on Shearman’s City team. In […]

ladder

BCLP bolsters London office with nine promotions

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) has made up 24 partners in its latest global promotions round, with 38 per cent (nine) of the cohort having been made up in London. Effective from 1 January 2024, the new partners in the City are Daniel Burnaud, Janany Kathirgamanathan, James Parker and Benedict West in real estate, and […]

Osborne Clarke sets out plans for Miami launch

Osborne Clarke is laying the groundwork to launch a third US office in Miami, focused primarily on international arbitration. With an eye on trading opportunities with Latin America through Miami, the firm has brought on IT and dispute resolution lawyer Javier Fernandez-Samaniego, who had been running his boutique firm Samaniego Law since its establishment in […]

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 […]

Singapore is essential to any India strategy

There was some significant Indian market news this week from Linklaters. It named Singapore-based capital markets partner Amit Singh as its new India chief, replacing London-based Narayan Iyer. Singh, who arrived as a lateral from magic circle rival Allen & Overy in 2018, is already the head of the capital markets practice in South and […]

Hong Kong

Winston & Strawn to close Hong Kong office

Winston & Strawn is the latest firm preparing to close its office in Hong Kong, though its joint venture in the region will continue. The Lawyer understands the office will close after Chinese New Year. The firm has nine lawyers in Hong Kong, with four of them being partners. The firm will continue to operate […]

Saudi Riyadh

Latham becomes latest firm to make Riyadh its regional HQ

Latham & Watkins has reaffirmed its commitment to the burgeoning Saudi legal market with the award of a regional headquarters licence, officially making Riyadh the heart of its Middle East strategy. The firm issued an announcement this morning stating that MENA managing partner Salman Al-Sudairi would lead the office with Safaa Arthold taking up the […]

Pinsents expands in Middle East with NewLaw launch

Pinsent Masons has doubled down on its Middle East offering with the launch of its NewLaw business Vario in Dubai. The move will see senior legal counsel Britta Spachtholz relocate to Pinsents’ Dubai office, which is where Vario will be based. The Middle East launch comes after a period of expansion for Vario. Since launching […]

Abu Dhabi

Pinsents launches office in Abu Dhabi

Pinsent Masons is stretching its capabilities in the UAE beyond Dubai, with the opening of a representative office in Abu Dhabi. After almost two decades operating out of Dubai, the firm has signed on for its licence to operate out of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). Abu Dhabi’s Economic Vision 2030 plays a role […]

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 […]

Global Top 30 in Europe

September sees the publication of the final report in our 2023 Global Top 30 series. This Global Top 30 in Europe marks the first time that we have set out to assess the Continental European bench strength of 30 top-tier global firms. For the purposes of this report, we do not include the United Kingdom […]