USA

Updates and analysis from The Lawyer covering law firms from the USA.

News

US UK flag

Womble Bond revenue to hit £565m after US merger

Womble Bond Dickinson is preparing to expand significantly in the US, with a merger confirmed with Phoenix firm Lewis Roca. The geography-driven deal, which aims to plug several strategic gaps in the larger firm’s office network, is set to go live at the start of next year. The merged firm will be known as Womble […]

Silicon Valley

Irish firm is latest to shun Palo Alto

A&L Goodbody is to focus its West Coast business development efforts on its San Francisco rep office, leading it to close its outpost in Silicon Valley. The firm is in the process of winding down its office in the tech heartland of Palo Alto. A&L Goodbody first opened its Palo Alto office in 2012 to […]

dollars money

Milbank dishes out associate bonuses up to $25,000

Milbank has announced that associates around the world are soon to receive summer bonuses of up to $25,000. To be paid by the end of September 2024, associates can expect a sum between $6,000 and $25,000, as first reported in Above the Law.  Associates with six years of experience or more, as well as special […]

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 […]

Analysis

Toilet timer

Financial year-end: The myths and legends of billing on the loo

April is the busiest month as the end of the financial year looms. As firms rush to get bills out and paid, The Lawyer takes a deep dive into key financial hygiene and behavioural issues. According to legend, time recording has been a thing in law firms for over 100 years. It is thought to date back […]

Amazon

Cooley’s problem with Amazon

Last month, Cooley unveiled its first revenue dip since it opened in the City in 2015. Behind that lies a major tussle over firm strategy – and in particular, its relationship with one of the most powerful companies in the world.

Century City

After O’Melveny came Akin: How A&O’s LA plans shifted

“Now we have a presence in LA, it expands our opportunities,” says Allen & Overy’s US senior partner Tim House in reflection of the firm’s bold hire of Akin Gump’s West Coast project finance team last week. The magic circle firm has established itself in LA through the hire of six partners and 13 lawyers […]

Silicon Valley

Four reasons why Freshfields’ Silicon Valley launch affects the City

For a UK-headquartered firm, launching in Northern California is high-risk and high-impact. Unimaginably, a firm from the magic circle – that supposedly fragile, fading band – has opened its doors with seven senior lawyers, having lured not only prominent capital markets partner Sarah Solum from Davis Polk, but at the same time Boris Feldman, a […]

Featured Briefings

Star legal writers: litigation

How to increase your chance of success in corporate intelligence cases, avoid compromising future claims in settlements and ­tackling the Trump tarnish come top in our litigation briefings