Headline Partner Moves in London September 2017 – January 2018
Introduction
Our first report of the year allows us the opportunity to look back on a fascinating 12 months in the lateral recruitment market in London.
In terms of volume, the number of partner moves in London has remained remarkably consistent over the last few years. In 2017 we reported on 445 moves in London. Whilst this was down on the 537 moves of the preceding 12 months, 75 of those 2016 moves were from the disintegrating KWM, so the more accurate figure for comparison purposes is 462 moves in 2016. Even if we subtract the 16 moves of legacy KWM partners in 2017, this still leaves us with a total of 429 headline partner moves, a slight decline on 2016, but not significant enough to show any particular trend. What is abundantly clear is that Brexit has not killed the lateral market as some had predicted it might - and the appetite of firms to hire partners and teams from competitors remains high.
According to our data, Clyde & Co and Simmons & Simmons were the most prolific acquirers of partner talent in London last year, with 11 new partners joining both these firms in 2017. DAC Beachcroft and Reed Smith were just behind, with 10 laterals each. The elite US firms tend to steal the headlines when it comes to lateral moves but, interestingly, it is very much quality rather than quantity which informed their hiring in 2017. Of the big beasts of US law, only Kirkland & Ellis feature in our top hiring firms of 2017 with seven hires into London. By contrast, in 2016, Kirkland’s eight laterals were somewhat overshadowed by Latham’s 13, Sidley’s 12 and White & Case’s 11 hires. None of these firms make it to the top table this year. Is this a sign of increased caution amongst the top US firms or simply an example of how hiring happens in waves, with firms pausing for breath and integration after going on a lateral hiring spree?
We also note that PwC make it into the Top Hiring firms of 2017 with seven partner hires. This is the second time they have appeared in our top table – they had six partners join in 2015. There has been a lot of recent commentary on the Big 4 and they are definitely making strides in legal. In this report we note corporate partner, Richard Lewis’ move from Eversheds to KPMG and also tax partner Matthew Herrington swapping McDermott Will & Emery for KPMG. Another top 10 accountancy firm has also entered the market with RSM growing its legal practice with the recent hire of Sophie St John as a private client partner. The jury is still out on the threat posed to traditional law firms by these multi-disciplinary professional services giants but it is definitely something to keep an eye on.
Senior associate to immediate partner moves remain an important part of the market, with 90 such moves in 2017 or 20% of the total. This compares to 79 such hires in 2016 and 80 in 2015. The ease of making a jump to an immediate partner position at another firm very much depends on the practice area. It seems to be good news if you are a finance senior associate, as 18 people at this level managed to secure a partner position elsewhere, a whopping 39% of all finance moves in 2017. Not so great if you are a disputes lawyer in search of a step up to partnership, with only 6 such promotions out of a total of 58 moves, a tad over 10%.
Looking at the breakdown of moves across practice areas, we can see that the traditional gap between corporate and commercial litigation as the biggest two practice areas for lateral recruitment has shrunk. Corporate just edges it into pole position in 2017 with 59 moves, as against 58 litigation hires. In 2015 there were 26 more corporate than litigation moves and in 2016, 14 more. Meanwhile, real estate is at its lowest level for a while, with only 34 moves in 2017, as against 40 moves in 2015 and a massive 62 moves in 2016. In other areas, 2017 has seen a marked increase in insurance moves (37 moves as against 26 last year and 17 in 2015); insolvency and restructuring hires (20 moves as against 14 last year and 10 in 2015); and tax partners (19 moves as against 13 last year and 14 in 2015). Competition moves have been marked by their rarity in 2017 with only seven moves reported in the past 12 months as against 15 in 2015 and 23 in 2016. Perhaps this is one of the few practice areas to really suffer a Brexit slow-down or is this simply down to a dearth of movable talent?
The insurance market has been particularly choppy over the last few months as some firms struggle to make insurance work pay in the City. We have seen the growth of Bristol in particular as a regional hub, with Clydes the latest firm to open there. December brought the news that Mayer Brown were losing a significant team of insurance partners to Kennedys led by David Chadwick. At the same time, Sedgwick’s collapse in the US led to their 6 London partners coming onto the market. DAC Beachcroft and RPC picked up two apiece, with CMS taking one and the head of London Ed Smerdon moving
inhouse to Aon. BLM have also taken a hit with a number of partner losses, including a two-partner team to Clydes.
In this report we have also analysed the number of female partners moving. Of the 446 reported moves in 2017, 101 of these were female or 22.64% of the total. What to make of these figures? The starting point needs to be the number of female partners in the City. According to the Lawyer in September 2017, 25% of all partners in the UK 200 are female. However most of the moves we report are for top 100 firms and US firms (some of whom don’t have a great track record in diversity) so 22.64% doesn’t feel too out of kilter with the likely total number of female partners at these firms.
There are significant differentials when we look at the male/female breakdown across practice areas. Of the 59 reported corporate moves in 2017, only six were female (basically 10%). By contrast, in employment and pensions, 12 of the 23 (52%) were women and in private client it was 8 out of 14 (57%). None of this is too surprising, but it does highlight the difficulty of firms trying to address gender imbalances in areas such as corporate through lateral recruitment and it is clear that law firms need to redouble their efforts to bring their own female talent through their ranks if these figures are ever to improve.
It is impossible to extrapolate the exact level of seniority of the 101 female partners who moved in 2017, but with The Lawyer suggesting that only 18% of equity partners at the top 200 firms are female, it is safe to assume that this figure drops when looking at top 100 and US firms in London. Certainly, finding female moves deemed significant enough for the legal press to include them in their breaking news segments is not easy. In The Lawyer’s top 10 hires of 2017 (which in actual fact features 15 names as they include a couple of team moves), the only female partner mentioned is Katja Butler, a junior partner who joined Richard Youle in moving from White & Case to Skadden. This is not to criticise the legal publications which have been important in getting firms to focus more on diversity. But it does demonstrate that, whilst there is rightly a lot of attention on improving the total numbers of female partners, there is also a huge amount of work to be done in encouraging female partners to move up the ranks into positions of leadership and influence.
The highest profile move of the year came right at the end of 2017 with Kirkland enticing private equity partner David Higgins from Freshfields. Whilst his loss will undoubtedly be felt at Freshfields, only time will tell whether Higgins is worth the astronomic remuneration Kirkland have reportedly paid to bring him over.
The Magic Circle can continue to tinker away with their respective lock-steps but they simply can’t compete in cash terms with firms like Kirkland and we will continue to see a trickle of talent to much more profitable US firms over coming months. It is unrealistic for management to prevent some heads being turned so the real challenge for the Magic Circle is to make sure that the trickle doesn’t become a torrent.
Paul, Dan and the Team
020 7332 2680
Deacon Search is an independent legal recruitment boutique focusing exclusively on partner moves in London. If you are a law firm interested in discussing a potential assignment or an individual partner or team considering a move, please contact us.
Partner Consultants:
Paul Dan
Scott Norah Sarah
Partner Research & Market Intelligence
Danielle Gemma Agi Joanne
The individuals listed in the tables below are movers reported between 20th September 2017 and 8th January 2018. They are all partners who moved to or from a London office, unless otherwise stated.
1. Corporate/Private Equity
Name From To Discipline
White & Case Peter Lewis CMS Private Equity (Counsel)
Crowell & Moring Amy Comer Morgan Lewis Corporate (London & New York)
Private Equity Christopher Field Kirkland & Ellis Dechert Corporate
Private Equity Andrew Carpenter Addleshaw Goddard DWF Corporate
Mel Sims DLA Piper DWF Corporate
Corporate Gibson Dunn & Jeremy Kenley Mayer Brown Real Estate Private Crutcher Equity
Markus Bauman King & Spalding Goodwin Corporate
Charles Russell Jaspal Sekhon Speechlys Hill Dickinson Corporate (Senior Associate)
Philip Newhouse McGuireWoods Michelmores Corporate
David Higgins Freshfields Kirkland & Ellis Private Equity
Richard Lewis Eversheds KPMG Corporate
Tim Hewens Squire Patton Boggs Osborne Clarke Private Equity
Catherine Moss Winckworth Sherwood Shakespeare Martineau Corporate
James Wood Ashurst Sidley Austin Corporate
Simpson Thacher & Wim De Vlieger Bartlett Sidley Austin Private Equity (Counsel)
Simpson Thacher & Till Lefranc Bartlett Sidley Austin Private Equity (Senior Associate)
The Treasury Peter King Weil Gotshal & Manges Corporate (Legal Director)
Maclay Murray & Spens Adam Lynch Wedlake Bell Corporate (Senior Associate)
Oliver Harker Reed Smith Weightmans Corporate
Dominic Ross Ashurst White & Case Corporate
Linklaters Daniel Turgel White & Case Corporate (Senior Associate)
2. Finance
Name From To Discipline
Asset Finance Clive Smith Osborne Clarke Addleshaw Goddard Rail
Meera Jansen Brecher Blake Morgan Finance
Structured Finance Neil Hamilton Jones Day CMS Securitisation
Linklaters Kitty Lloyd Dentons Corporate Trustee (Counsel)
Edward Bibko Baker McKenzie Jefferies Bank Capital Markets
Latham & Watkins Derivatives Simeon Rudin Freshfields (Counsel) Structured Finance
Schulte Roth & Zabel Ron Feldman MJ Hudson Derivatives (Senior Associate)
Freshfields Max Millington Osborne Clarke Finance (Senior Associate)
Allen & Overy Dylan Potter Vedder Price Transportation Finance (Senior Associate)
3. Insolvency/Restructuring
Name From To Discipline
Stephenson Harwood James Watson Kirkland & Ellis Restructuring (Senior Associate)
Travers Smith Restructuring Douglas Hawthorn Michelmores (Senior Counsel) Insolvency
David Manson White & Case Paul Hastings Restructuring
Michael Mulligan Grosvenor Law Shakespeare Martineau Insolvency Litigation
4. Financial Services/Funds
Name From To Discipline
Berwin Leighton Financial Services Daniel Csefalvay Ex Linklaters Paisner Regulatory
Financial Services Mark Compton Mayer Brown BNY Mellon Regulatory
Jamie Symington FCA Brown Rudnick Contentious Regulatory
Financial Services Nigel Brahams Fox Williams Collyer Bristow Regulatory
Jake McQuitty TLT Eversheds Sutherland Contentious Regulatory
Stephenson Harwood John Wilkinson Farrer Contentious Regulatory (Senior Associate)
Michelle Moran Ropes & Gray K&L Gates Investment Funds
Jacob Ghanty K&L Gates Kemp Little Financial Regulatory
Ropes & Gray James Board Kirkland & Ellis Investment Funds (Senior Associate)
Tom Alabaster Latham & Watkins Linklaters Investment Funds
Guy Wilkes Mayer Brown Mishcon de Reya Contentious Regulatory
Financial Services Marco Boldini ETF Securities PwC Regulatory
Financial Services Martin Sandler Berwin Leighton Paisner PwC Regulatory
5. Real Estate
Name From To Discipline
Karen Friebe Berwin Leighton Paisner Bird & Bird Real Estate
Sloan Kelly Dorsey & Whitney Faegre Baker Daniels Real Estate
Dominic Whelan Brecher Goodman Derrick Real Estate
Charles Russell Simon Davies Goodman Derrick Real Estate Speechlys
Jeremy Rosen SLP Gunnercooke Real Estate
Richard Hughes Boodle Hatfield Moore Blatch Real Estate
Hogan Lovells Anthony Newton Pinsent Masons Real Estate (Senior Associate)
Anthea Bamford Berwin Leighton Paisner Weil Gotshal & Manges Corporate Real Estate
6. Construction
Name From To Discipline
Stuart Wilson Trowers & Hamlins Clarke Willmott Construction
Construction Matthew Olorenshaw DWF DAC Beachcroft Professional indemnity
Tom Pemberton Beale & Company Goodman Derrick Construction
Mitsubishi Hitachi Angus Rankin Power Systems Europe Hogan Lovells Construction Litigation Limited
Rob Horne Simmons & Simmons Osborne Clarke Construction Litigation
7. Project Finance/Projects/Energy/Commodities
Name From To Discipline
Energy Arun Velusami Norton Rose Fulbright Hogan Lovells Project Finance
Eversheds Jonathan Cohen Howard Kennedy Energy (Senior Associate)
Jeremy Farr Ince & Co K&L Gates Energy Litigation
Charles Lockwood Ince & Co K&L Gates Energy Litigation
Clare Kempkens Ince & Co K&L Gates Energy Litigation
Rubin Weston Baker Botts Stephenson Harwood Project Finance
8. Commercial Litigation/International Arbitration/Corporate Crime
Name From To Discipline
Allen & Overy Michelle de Kluyver Addleshaw Goddard Corporate Crime (Counsel)
McDermott Will & International Damian Watkin Bracewell Emery Arbitration
John Gilbert K&L Gates Bracewell Energy Litigation
James Norris-Jones Herbert Smith Freehills Cleary Gottlieb Finance Litigation
Winston & Strawn International Alejandro Garcia Clyde & Co (Senior Associate) Arbitration
Charles Kuhn Hickman & Rose Clyde & Co Corporate Crime
Gibson Dunn & Sacha Harber-Kelly SFO White Collar Crime Crutcher
Richard Cannon Mishcon de Reya Gunnercooke Corporate Crime
International Ben Giaretta Ashurst Mishcon de Reya Arbitration
Simons Muirhead Pamela Reddy Norton Rose Fulbright White Collar Crime Burton
Artem Doudko White & Case Osborne Clarke International (Counsel) Arbitration
Jean-François Le Gal Brown Rudnick Pinsent Masons Commercial Litigation
Shepherd & Philip Sewell Maclay Murray & Spens Commercial Litigation Wedderburn
Watson Farley & Tom Ross Ropes & Gray Finance Litigation Williams
Andrew Cromby Bracher Rawlins Weightmans Commercial Litigation
9. Insurance/Reinsurance/Healthcare
Name From To Discipline
Matthew Trinder BLM Browne Jacobson Clinical Negligence
Clyde & Co John Eastlake Kennedys Professional Indemnity (Bristol)
Jeanette Newman BLM Clyde & Co Insurance
Jonathan Edwards BLM Clyde & Co Insurance
Tristan Hall Sedgwick CMS Insurance
Mark Kendall Sedgwick DAC Beachcroft Insurance
Duncan Strachan Sedgwick DAC Beachcroft Insurance
Insurance David Chadwick Mayer Brown Kennedys Political Risk
Mayer Brown Tim McCaw Kennedys Professional Indemnity (Senior Associate)
Ingrid Hobbs Mayer Brown Kennedys Insurance
Insurance Andy Westlake Mayer Brown Kennedys Political Risk
Marise Gellert Plexus Law Keoghs Insurance
Insurance Naomi Vary Sedgwick RPC Political Risk
Karen Morrish Sedgwick RPC Professional Indemnity
Narrinder Taggar Blake Morgan Shakespeare Martineau Insurance
10. Employment/Pensions
Name From To Discipline
Clifford Chance David Sims DAC Beachcroft Employment (Senior Associate)
Kelly Whiter PwC Fladgate Immigration
David Israel Wedlake Bell Royds Withy King Employment
Clifford Chance Liz Pierson Squire Patton Boggs Incentives (Director)
Michael Salters DWF Wedlake Bell Pensions
Tracy Evlogidis Morgan Lewis Withers Immigration
11. IP/TMT/Data Protection/Commercial
Name From To Discipline
Mayer Brown Charles Russell Megan Paul Technology (Senior Associate) Speechlys
Tim Ryan Memery Crystal DAC Beachcroft Technology
Dominic Cooke ex Bird & Bird Deloitte Technology
Simon Rendell Osborne Clarke Fieldfisher Technology
Tim Sewart DAC Beachcroft Memery Crystal Technology
Memery Crystal Robin Fry DAC Beachcroft Technology (Director)
Charles Russell Ian Lynam Northridge Sports Speechlys
Charles Russell James Eighteen Northridge Sports Speechlys
Charles Russell Jon Walters Northridge Sports Speechlys
Charles Russell Jonathan Ellis Northridge Sports Speechlys
Kevin Cordina CMS Simmons & Simmons Patent Prosecutions
Technology Paul Gardner Osborne Clarke Wiggin Gaming
12. Competition
Name From To Discipline
Shepherd and Arnold & Porter Kaye John Schmidt Competition Wedderburn Scholer
Competition Appeal Michael Cutting Linklaters Competition Tribunal
Competition and Markets Authority Martin Coleman Norton Rose Fulbright Competition (Non-executive Director)
13. Private Client/Family/Charity
Name From To Discipline
Mishcon de Reya Claire-Marie Corford Irwin Mitchell Trusts Litigation (Managing Associate)
Charles Russell Private Client Anita Gill Kingsley Napley Speechlys Court of Protection
Barclays Wealth and Sophie St John Investment RSM Private Client Management
Veale Wasbrough Charity Paul Voller Bircham Dyson Bell Vizards
14. Tax
Name From To Discipline
Jane Scobie Ex Kirkland & Ellis Dechert Tax
Gibson Dunn & Sandy Bhogal Mayer Brown Tax Crutcher
McDermott Will & Matthew Herrington KPMG Tax Emery
Mergers/Office Openings
Media, technology and brands law firm Wiggin has acquired boutique intellectual property law firm Redd. The combined team will comprise 20 specialist IP lawyers working across Wiggin’s offices.
BLM has taken a team of 33 commercial lawyers (including 11 partners) from Slater & Gordon in Manchester and London.
Shanghai-headquartered AllBright has sealed a co-operation agreement with Bird & Bird and will establish a representative office in the UK firm’s City premises.