Lateral Partner Moves in London

Welcome to the latest round-up of lateral partner moves in the legal market from Edwards Gibson; where we look back at announced partner-level recruitment activity in London over the past two months and give you a ‘who’s moved where’ update.

Compared with the preceding two years, 2018 has been a quiet year and this edition is no exception; we recorded a total of 44 lateral partner moves - 33% down on the same period last year and 19% lower than the statistical average for the preceding five-year period.

Edwards Gibson does not record hires made through law firm mergers so, in the absence of Withers’ acquisition of UK technology boutique JAG Shaw Baker - which saw the firm take on five partners in London - nearly all of the top hirers in this round-up were US law firms.  The largest single team move was by Morgan Lewis  which nabbed three corporate partners from Herbert Smith. Latham & Watkins has once more demonstrated its buying power in the London market by snapping up two magic circle partners in their prime, this time from Allen & Overy and Clifford Chance, to launch a new  infrastructure offering.

Top partner recruiters in London July-August 2018

    Latham & Watkins                  4

    CMS Cameron McKenna          3

    Morgan Lewis                         3

    White & Case                         3

Also of note in this round-up, the normally ultra-conservative all equity White Shoe firm Sullivan & Cromwell made a rare lateral hire from fellow New Yorker Shearman & Sterling, whilst Shearman & Sterling itself reclaimed one of its own in the form of US high yield expert Ward McKimm, who has re-joined his old firm after a three year stint at Freshfields.   

Earlier this year we observed just how active the White Collar Crime market has been over the past couple of years and this edition is no exception with four firms - Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, DLA Piper, Mayer Brown and Stewarts - making hires in that space.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to discuss this article or any other aspect of the market in more depth.

The Edwards Gibson Team  

+ 44 (0) 207153 4903