Tom Borman

Tom Borman is a regular LawFuel contributor writing on the top law firms and best law firm lists in American law. He has written recently about law firm pay rates, major law firms like Kirkland & Ellis, law firm SEO and related legal matters. He can be contacted through news@lawfuel.com

DLA Piper Votes Overwhelmingly to Scrap Verein Structure

Big Law, Briefings, Featured, Press Releases /
Merger vote lawfuel

DLA Piper is scrapping its Swiss verein structure and pulling the operation under a single leadership umbrella after partners in both its US and International LLPs voted overwhelmingly in favour.

The firm is betting that a more unified structure will make it easier to chase high-value, cross-border work and compete for top-tier talent without the usual internal friction that verein structures quietly encourage.
Log in to read more . .

DLA Piper Votes Overwhelmingly to Scrap Verein Structure Read More »

Sports Law Explodes As Elite Deal-Makers Command $10M+ in Poaching Frenzy

Headlining, Law Firms, US Law /
Sportslaw

If you’re a sports lawyer with a strong book of business, or an ambitious associate eyeing the biggest payday of your career with BigLaw firms currently writing checks most lawyers only dream about.

Elite transactional rainmakers who live and breathe NBA, NFL, MLB, WNBA and private-equity sports deals are now routinely commanding $8 million to $12 million-plus in annual compensation, with the very top names clearing eight-figure packages in the fiercest poaching war the practice has ever seen.

Log in to read more . .

Sports Law Explodes As Elite Deal-Makers Command $10M+ in Poaching Frenzy Read More »

London Law Boss ‘Spitting Feathers’ Over Partners’ Sexual Harassment Pattern

Big Law, Headlining, UK Law /
Kennedys story

The boss of one of the London’s elite insurance law firms has taken the extraordinary step of personally overseeing misconduct complaints after rising allegations of bullying and sexual harassment among senior partners, shining a fresh, unflattering light on law firms’ ongoing struggle to clean up their cultures.
Read more . .

London Law Boss ‘Spitting Feathers’ Over Partners’ Sexual Harassment Pattern Read More »

Ropes & Gray Raids Latham & Watkins for Eight-Lawyer Paris PE/M&A Team

Big Law, Headlining, Power Firms /
Deniscriton,lawfuel

In a bold lateral strike that underscores the fierce talent battle in Paris Big Law, Ropes & Gray has snapped up a high-powered eight-lawyer private equity and M&A group from rival Latham & Watkins.

The move, confirmed by multiple sources including The Lawyer andLaw.com International, brings three partners — Denis Criton, (pictured) Gaëtan Gianasso, and Michael Colle

Ropes & Gray Raids Latham & Watkins for Eight-Lawyer Paris PE/M&A Team Read More »

$11 Million a Partner -The Big Law Pay Story That Makes Every Other Firm’s Numbers Look Modest

Big Law, Headlining, US Law /
Tmpwabzj9w8

Kirkland & Ellis just changed the frame for the entire industry

If you write about lawyers for long enough, you make a quiet peace with the gap between your pay packet and theirs. This week, however, Kirkland & Ellis has made that gap feel almost cosmic.

Equity partners at the world’s highest-grossing law firm averaged $11.1 million each for 2025 – a 20% increase on 2024. The major money figure places Kirkland’s partners in the earnings bracket of a top Premier League footballer, at roughly £22,500 a day.

The firm simultaneously became the first law firm in history to break $10 billion in revenue, posting $10.56 billion for the year.

$11 Million a Partner -The Big Law Pay Story That Makes Every Other Firm’s Numbers Look Modest Read More »

Billable Hours vs. Billion‑Dollar Bots – Legora and the New Economics of Law

Headlining, Legal AI /
Legora founders graphic artwork min

A two‑year‑old Swedish startup has just become one of the most valuable legal tech businesses on the planet—and it is using that war chest to plant its flag squarely in the US legal market. Legora’s $550 million Series D at a $5.55 billion valuation is not just another exuberant AI round; it is a blunt message to law firm leaders that the window for treating AI as a side project has closed.

Legora’s pitch is disarmingly simple. Built on top of large language models, its platform targets the work that eats most of a junior lawyer’s life: research, document review, contract drafting and due diligence.

The company claims tens of thousands of legal professionals using the product daily, across some 800 customers in more than 50 markets, including heavy‑hitting firms like Bird & Bird, Cleary Gottlieb, White & Case, Linklaters, Goodwin, Dentons and advisers such as Deloitte.

Billable Hours vs. Billion‑Dollar Bots – Legora and the New Economics of Law Read More »

Taylor Rose’s 1,000‑Lawyer Milestone: Has the Consultant Model Finally Gone Mainstream?

Featured, Law Firms, UK Law /
AdrianJaggard lawfuel

Tom Borman, lawFuel Contributing Editor Taylor Rose has become the first UK law firm to push its consultant platform through the 1,000‑lawyer ceiling, underlining just how fast the fee‑share model is eating into the traditional partnership franchise. The national firm, part of the AIIC Group, now sits on more than 1,000 consultant solicitors across its

Taylor Rose’s 1,000‑Lawyer Milestone: Has the Consultant Model Finally Gone Mainstream? Read More »

No JDs on Forbes’ 2026 Celebrity Billionaire List — But Kim Kardashian Just Failed the Bar and Refuses to Quit

Briefings, LawPreneur, Press Releases, US Law /
Celebrity law richlist lawfuel

Tom Borman, LawFuel contributing editor The world’s 22 richest celebrity billionaires are worth a collective $48.1 billion as of March 1, 2026. Not one holds a J.D. or has ever practiced law. Forbes dropped the fresh ranking March 10, and the verdict for the legal profession is crystal clear: fame-first wealth still trumps billable hours.

No JDs on Forbes’ 2026 Celebrity Billionaire List — But Kim Kardashian Just Failed the Bar and Refuses to Quit Read More »

Is This The Death of Lockstep Pay for BigLaw?

Headlining /
Biglawpay reset

For decades, BigLaw partnership compensation had the reassuring predictability of a Swiss watch. Progress through lockstep. Accumulate seniority. Collect your reward. Repeat.

That model isn’t dead. But the announcement in February 2026 that Freshfields, the world’s 13th largest firm by gross revenue, and an institution that maintained an all-equity partnership for its entire existence, was introducing a nonequity partner tier while simultaneously stretching its lockstep to reward higher earners at the top of the pay scale, made something abundantly clear.

The Pay Reset is Now

Freshfields isn’t alone. Cravath created a salaried partner tier in November 2023, and that move gave other highly-ranked firms permission to follow suit — Paul Weiss, WilmerHale, Cleary, Skadden, Debevoise, and Sullivan & Cromwell have all introduced nonequity tiers in the two years since.

Is This The Death of Lockstep Pay for BigLaw? Read More »

Macfarlanes’ Curious New York Move: A Manhattan Office With No U.S. Law

Headlining, Power Firms, US Law /
Macfarlanes lawfuel

Macfarlanes Opens Manhattan Office – With a Deliberately Limited Mission Macfarlanes is joining the steady procession of London firms establishing a presence in New York. But unlike the usual BigLaw expansion playbook, the firm insists it has no intention of practising U.S. law. Instead, the profile City firm is opening what it calls a “representative

Macfarlanes’ Curious New York Move: A Manhattan Office With No U.S. Law Read More »

Scroll to Top