Foley & Lardner LLP announced today the continued expansion of its national corporate platform with the addition of partners James Bedotto in Dallas and John Stern in Boston. Bedotto joins the firm’s Finance Practice, while Stern joins the Taxation Practice, further enhancing the firm’s capabilities in debt finance, fund structuring, and transactional tax matters. Bedotto and […]
The glittering promises of the Big Law lateral market have hit a multi-million dollar roadblock with the Clifford Chance legal battle that pulls back the curtain on the closely guarded mechanics behind biglaw partnership agreements.
Clifford Chance, a lucrative biglaw firm providing rich partner rewards, is aggressively pursuing millions of dollars in compensation clawbacks from two of its former top US partners.
Just two months after stepping down, Clifford Chance’s former global managing partner, Charles Adams, delivered a financial bombshell via mail to Andrew Cone and Michael Sabin the former co-heads of the firm’s US-based funds and investment management practice.
The letters outlined a massive financial hit . . Log in to read more . .
Kirkland & Ellis leads the M&A rankings as the Chicago-founded firm advised on 350 deals worth close to $474.5 billion in the first half of 2026, being a comfortable 18% ahead of second-placed Skadden’s $402.8 billion across just 105 deals, according to LSEG data. All of which points once again to why Kirklands continue to reign supreme in partner remuneration.
Sullivan & Cromwell, which had briefly held the top spot in Q1, slipped to third with $395 billion. Wachtell Lipton rounded out the top four at $367.7 billion.
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Kirkland Wins Again As BigLaw’s M&A Machine Has Its Best Six Months Since Records Began Read More »
Following our reporting the 12-year continued growth of Kennedys and their pursuit of a $1 billion law firm, the firm has boosted its litigation division in the US with a strategic hire of 12 lawyers from Tyson & Mendes. Kennedys are rapdily moving to build their litigation and disputes practise in the US and elswhere,
The AFR’s mid-year Law Partnership Survey shows the top end monetising every crisis going — litigation, regulation and the AI panic — while quietly thinning the graduate ranks. According to the Australian Financial Review‘s first-half 2026 Law Partnership Survey, the country’s firms added their biggest cohort of new partners since at least 2020 in the
Australia’s Top Firms Just Posted Their Best Partner Haul Since 2020 Read More »
BigLaw Pay vs Boutique Pay Scale Sonia Hickey The boutiques are once again teaching BigLaw a lesson in how to spend money on associates with New York boutique Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider, a New York-founded antitrust and litigation shop, is dishing out special bonuses of $10,000 to $25,000, payable by 15 July, per a 23
Axinn’s Boutique Offers $25,000 Bonuses While BigLaw Plays Catch-Up Read More »
The London legal market just got another massive jolt as US mega-firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett muscles further into City territory.
Simpson Thacher, a private equity titan, the elite New York-headquartered firm has officially launched its first-ever formal UK training contract, which they are backing it up with serious Wall Street cash showing – once again – how the big money US firms are reshaping the London legal scene.
The private equity specialist has joined the firm from Goodwin – Media statement below LONDON, 11 June 2026: Morgan Lewis continues to expand its European corporate platform with the appointment of Gemma Roberts in London. She will join from Goodwin where she was previously co-chair of the London office. Gemma will serve as Morgan Lewis’s
Law.com International’s latest UK revenue‑per‑lawyer rankings add to growing evidence that London’s top‑end legal market is no longer defined by the Magic Circle alone. Instead, a small group of elite US firms have carved out a parallel “New York–style” market in the City, where profit per partner and revenue per lawyer for firms like Lathams sit at levels most UK rivals struggle to match.
For years, the line in London was that City lawyers billed like New Yorkers but were paid like Londoners. That joke looks increasingly dated.
How US Heavyweights Hijacked London’s Legal Economics Read More »
The deal firms have not yet decided what to tell the market in the Pay War KEY TAKEAWAY: Six firms have matched Milbank’s 2 June 2026 scale of $235K–$455K. Every one — McDermott Will & Schulte, Hueston Hennigan, Quinn Emanuel, Katten, Texas litigation boutique Vartabedian Katz Hester Haynes, and Dunn Isaacson Rhee on bonuses —
Litigation Won The First Round Of The 2026 Pay War Read More »
