Elite U.S. Firms Having Trouble Attracting Senior U.K. Partners?
A new survey suggests that American firms are having a harder time recruiting partners in the U.K.
A Legal Week survey of hiring trends at 23 U.S. firms located in London revealed that there were 65 lateral hires last year, up from 58 in 2006, but down from a peak of 70 in 2005, Legal Week reports.
Drops in lateral appointments were noted at firms including Latham & Watkins, Kirkland & Ellis, Weil, Gotshal & Manges and Baker & McKenzie. Yet there were reported upswings in lateral hiring at Reed Smith Richards Butler, Jones Day and Mayer Brown.
Legal Week notes that more and more laterals are coming from the U.S. or weren’t previously partners.
Weil Gotshal London head Mike Francies is quoted as saying the trend is because of a rise in profits at U.K. firms. “With the U.K. firms seeing their profits go up and the dollar going down, it means there is less financial incentive for people to move. Also, as very few people are motivated purely by money, when all the U.K. firms are doing well, generally people should be happy and therefore less motivated to move.”
Adding his theory, Shearman & Sterling London head Kenneth MacRitchie is quoted saying, “It may be that some of the bigger firms are getting to the point where they are the size they want to be, so hiring may slow down.”
