US Firms Lure U.K. Lawyers With $$$
As U.S.-based law firms have battled to establish a significant foothold in London in recent years, their U.K. counterparts have been engaged in similar efforts in New York.
But one country is clearly prevailing right now in this ongoing international competition for legal market share, according to the London Times: the United States. One major reason why? Money.
More than 100 lawyers now working for U.S. law firms in the U.K. earn at least $2 million annually, the newspaper reports, at least many of them lured from major British law firms by lucrative financial packages. (These attorneys working for U.S. firms are making at least 1 million pounds annually, the Times says; that converts to almost $2 million at the current exchange rate, according to an Oanda Corp. website.)
Kenneth MacRitchie, who formerly worked for London’s Clifford Chance as a project finance partner now manages the local office of Shearman & Sterling. It has 158 lawyers and is still growing. “Working for a US law firm is very liberating,” he says, citing the entrepreneurial culture that has enabled his office to lure well-known partners from London’s elite “magic circle” law firms.
The goal “is to create a firm that combines top-end New York law and English law capability in a global network.” Already, he says, “U.S. firms have taken a significant share of London work. It will only increase. New York firms are much more successful here than London firms have been in New York.”
