In a wildly competitive market, Latham & Watkins clearly stands out both for its rapid growth in the capital and also for its ongoing commitment to pro bono work, as well as the numerous career development initiatives it has introduced recently.
In London last year, Latham lawyers opened more than 100 new matters and donated approximately 14,000 hours advocating for disadvantaged, marginalised, and vulnerable people. In City revenue terms, it has risen to become the ninth-largest law firm – UK or US – in London off the back of a 21 per cent increase in UK turnover last year from £279.1m to £336.9m.
Latham, which won City firm of the year at The Lawyer Awards, sponsored by Travelers, won a lot of praise from the judges both for its incredibly impressive roster of clients and recent high-profile, ultra big-ticket deals, not least the IPO of the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco). On that deal, Latham advised the underwriters on non-Saudi law matters with a capital markets team led by partners in London, the US, and Dubai. Lawyers in the firm’s London office also advised on corporate law, finance, regulatory, and tax matters of what was the largest IPO in history. Latham had previously advised on Saudi Aramco’s debut international $12bn bond issuance.
But it’s not just on the transactional side that Latham has been scoring of late. Earlier this year the firm’s global vice chair of litigation Martin Davies underlined the extent to which Latham is also looking to build out its disputes practice in London.
“They are fulfilling their vision of London as a strategic opportunity with market-leading transactions and rapid growth,” one judge noted.
All in all, a tremendous year for the City Law Firm of the Year 2020, Latham & Watkins.
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