Latham & Watkins Target More Law Firms To Boost Emerging Companies Practice

Latham & Watkins’ London office has continued its hiring spree, targeting two ‘mid-market’ law firms with new hires.

Legal Business report that Taylor Wessing has seen its head of technology, media and communications Mike Turner leave for the US firm alongside Bird & Bird’s corporate partner Shing Lo. Both hires, announced at the end of January were voted in by Latham’s partnership in early January and will join the firm over the next few weeks.

The loss of Turner will be felt by Taylor Wessing who have already lost a four partner team to Goodwin Procter only a few months ago.

‘We are the first law firm that has a compelling emerging companies and venture capital practice on the West Coast, East Coast, Europe and Asia,’ Latham’s London corporate co-chair Robbie McLaren told Legal Business. ‘On top of this, we have the ability to do M&A and equity capital transactions in these jurisdictions as well, and that’s what clients are looking for.’

Promoted to the partnership in 2016, McLaren was until this move the only City partner covering the tech space at the firm: ‘When we set out to refine our global strategy in this sector we thought: where are we underweight in this space? The answer was London.’

‘As a West Coast heritage firm we understand how [the emerging companies practice] works and the opportunities it offers. There is such a great opportunity in this space with the amount of money being raised by private companies that we thought it would make sense to hire two outstanding practitioners.’

He said that when the firm started scouting partners last summer, Turner and Lo were the two names at the top of the list.

LB reported Turner had joined Taylor Wessing from another UK tech-focused firm Osborne Clarke in 2013 and forged relationships with a number of tech companies both sides of the Atlantic, such as Farfetch.

More LawFuel Headlines

• Jones Day Recruit Arbitration Star In Singapore
  Cross-border disputes partner Kay-Jannes Wegner joins Jones Day in Singapore Kay-Jannes Wegner has joined Jones Day as a partner in the Global Disputes Practice, based… Read more: Jones Day Recruit Arbitration Star In Singapore
• Big Law Pay Packets Disclosed In Trump Nominee Filings
  Big Law Pay Days Are How Big Exactly? Tom Borman, LawFuel contributing editor A revealing snapshot popped up in ethics disclosures filed by President Trump’s… Read more: Big Law Pay Packets Disclosed In Trump Nominee Filings
• Crowell & Moring Snaps Up Leading Dentons Patent Team in Major London IP Play
  Crowell’s London Growth Continues In a significant move in the competitive European IP space, Crowell & Moring has added heavyweight patent attorney Justin Hill and… Read more: Crowell & Moring Snaps Up Leading Dentons Patent Team in Major London IP Play
• Mid-East Expansion Continues for Big Law
  Addleshaw Goddard opens its doors in Abu Dhabi International law firm Addleshaw Goddard (AG) has further strengthened its presence in the Middle East with the… Read more: Mid-East Expansion Continues for Big Law
• Akin Gump To Open Saudi Office, Marking Further Expansion
  Akin’s Riyadh office launch will mark a key milestone in the firm’s growth strategy and a strengthened commitment to clients at the forefront of Saudi… Read more: Akin Gump To Open Saudi Office, Marking Further Expansion
• How Nonequity Partners Are Reshaping Big Law – Thanks To Kirkland & Ellis
  Kirkland & Ellis flipped the script on law firm partnerships by building a massive nonequity partner tier, now over 1,000 stron, which has let Kirkland promote more lawyers, faster, than most competitors, turning what some once called a “marketing trick” into a powerhouse business mode Recruiters now have Kirkland’s nonequity partners on speed dial. “They’re hot property,” the partner says. “Even if they’re not equity, getting a Kirkland ‘partner’ is a win for any recruiter or client.” Criticism of Kirkland’s two-tier, salaried partner model has faded. Now, other firms want in. The move is seen as smart business, not just a trick. Kirkland’s success, and the Wall Street money being paid to some partners in such firms, has pushed other big firms
• Seven-Strong Legal Exodus: Why Willkie Farr’s Trump Deal Cost Them Top Talent
  In early April 2025, Wilkie Farr & Gallagher struck a high-stakes deal with the Trump administration: a commitment to provide $100 million in pro bono services—and a controversial pledge to limit diversity initiatives—to dodge punitive executive orders. That deal has now triggered a legal talent landslide. Seven well-established litigation partners, mainly from the San Francisco office, have abandoned ship for Cooley LLP, who have actively challenged those Trump orders in court.
•   Stop Karping Says Brad . . Why Paul Weiss’s Boss Says The Firm Is In Good Heart Despite Departures
  Seven partners and others have left Paul Weiss but their former firm remains in good heart according to firm boss Brad Karp, who met with litigation partner to refute the ‘disinformation’ about the firm, according to a New York Law Journal report. Seven partners have left Paul Weiss for Dunn Isaacson Rhee, a new litigation boutique in Washington, DC. that is building a formidable team of Paul Weiss alumni who decided the heavyweight firm’s Trump Administration deal was too much to stomach. Paul Weiss promised Trump $40 million in free legal services on shared causes, including combating antisemitism and ensuring “fairness in the justice system.”