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A record number of top lawyers moved jobs to London this year as the influx of US law firms to the capital continues to disrupt the market and fuel salary wars for talent.
Law firms made 546 partner hires in London in the year to December 23, according to data from legal recruiter Edwards Gibson and shared with the Financial Times. The number surpasses last year’s record of 514 partner moves, as investment from US law firms in the UK shows no sign of abating.
London’s legal market has suffered a major disruption in recent years as a booming private equity market has fueled the significant expansion of lucrative US law firms in the city. Deep-pocketed US firms have been luring partners away from their UK-based rivals and, increasingly, from their US peers.
The UK “magic circle” group of firms, which includes Linklaters, Freshfields, A&O Shearman and Clifford Chance, have been particularly hard hit, losing a record 28 partners this year, according to the data, surpassing the previous record of 19.
The war for talent has prompted changes in firms’ pay structures as they struggle to attract and retain rainmakers and more young talent. Groups such as Clifford Chance and America’s Latham & Watkins recently added more flexibility to their models to be able to better reward top performers, according to people familiar with those moves. Both firms declined to comment.
“Unprecedented investment by US law firms in private equity-related employment has poured millions of dollars into the system,” said Scott Gibson, founder of Edwards Gibson. “This has distorted the market causing compensation to rise and creating major ripple effects in the chain as hapless rivals have tried to restock.”
US-based firms Kirkland & Ellis and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison were among the biggest recruiters in 2024, according to the data, which includes 155 lawyers who have moved from non-partner roles to partners.
Over the past year, Paul Weiss has sought to rapidly grow its presence in London and has grown 10-fold across Europe, including opening an office in Brussels, to cater for US private equity clients in continent.
“Our private equity and corporate clients are focused on having elite legal counsel in New York and London,” said Neel Sachdev, co-head of Paul Weiss’s London office. “Many firms are looking to replicate growth in London as it is a key legal market for M&A and capital markets and a gateway to Europe.”
Some UK-headquartered mid-tier firms have also benefited from the exposure, as larger firms withdraw from less profitable practice areas, such as lower-value routine work for financial services firms.
Simmons & Simmons has hired 16 new partners this year, according to the data, making it the second-biggest recruiter in 2024.
“The influence of American firms is very significant and you see that some firms have decided that they are committing to a certain profit target. This is driving some of their strategies and they can no longer afford to advise in certain areas of the market,” said Jeremy Hoyland, managing partner of Simmons & Simmons.
“Some of the partners we’re talking to are not feeling as loved as they might have been used to,” he added.
The hiring spree has led to raids on a number of major outfits; Latham & Watkins and Linklaters have seen some of the biggest numbers of departures.
Latham has lost eight of its 13 partner departures from Sidley Austin this year, while Linklaters has also seen a number of departures for American colleagues. Latham London managing partner Ed Barnett said the capital “has been a strategic priority for decades” and the firm “had an incredibly strong year”. Linklaters declined to comment.
While not all exits would be seen as losses, the memorable pay packages offered to partners were hard to compete with, said Charlie Harvey, founder of legal recruiter Harvey and Partners.
“We’ve worked with law firm partners in the London market who have doubled or tripled their compensation when they move,” said Harvey. “We see no signs of lateral partner hiring slowing as we move into 2025.”
