London Snubbed So Far in White & Case Restructuring
White & Case’s London office doesn’t have a single representative on the firm’s newly restructured management committees—so far.
The firm’s new chairman, Hugh Verrier, has already selected the members of his new executive committee, the American Lawyer reports. And only two spots are still open on the partnership committee, elected by the firm’s entire partnership.
Yet the firm’s London office posted $172 million in revenue last year, a 38 percent hike since 2005 and the second-highest amount for U.S. firms in London.
The magazine concludes that London’s snub “arguably says more about the slightly dysfunctional character of the office, with power dispersed among a delicate coalition of the six main practice group heads. It also underlines the increasingly pressing need for a single figurehead to head the London office. At the moment, the position of office senior partner is largely ceremonial and carries little power.”
