London’s Powerful, Top Earning Lawyers – Updated for 2023

Who are the London’s top earning lawyers today?

First published in 2018

Knowing what lawyers earn on a firm-by-firm basis is something the US legal media handle extensively, but when it comes to London’s top earning lawyers it has proven somewhat tougher.

However the growth of star-pulling pay packets such as that reported recently with the departure from Kirkland & Ellis to New York-based Paul Weiss, has seen mega-lawyer Neel Sachdev pick up one of the largest – if not the largest – payday scored by any lawyer in the City. He is unquestionably atop the list of London’s top earning lawyers.

With a packet reported to be worth $60 million over three years he has become a City law star and heads the lit of London’s biggest earning lawyers.

But business publication CityAM believed they were up for the job and they listed what some of the City’s top lawyers were earning after speaking with law partners and legal recruiters to find out just who earned the most.

LawFuel has updated the list of the top-earning London Lawyers, finding the trend towards high US-based law firm pay packets continuing to show the way for lawyers in the big money league.

A second key characteristic is that the earners are men – starting with Kirklands’ David Higgins (pictured) scoring at a mean $10m (£7m).

LawFuel recently reported on the difference between the remuneration models of the US firms with their ‘eat what you kill’ approach, compared to the more genteel UK approach based on seniority.

However times are changing as money talks and recruiting top legal talent means – mainly – more money.  And that means some major, continued competitive pressure on the UK firms from their US-based competitors.

The departure from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer of legal star Higgins has seen Freshfields ‘update’ its remuneration model with partners sitting atop its lockstep model earning £3.5m a year.

So who was identified as the top earners – and what was their remuneration according to CityAM’s informal survey?

The Top Paid London City Lawyers

David Higgins – as reported, the lawyer who joined Kirkland & Ellis from Freshfields and continues Chicago-based Kirkland’s aggressive approach towards hiring top legal talent. Acting for a range of private equity and other entities like Blackstone he continues to be one of the City’s top earners.

Stephen Lucas, a partner of Higgins joined Kirkland from US law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges in 2014 for a reported $8 million on a three-year deal, which reportedly has risen to $10 million, almost double what he was paid at Weil.

The Kirkland partners exemplify both the nature of the US pay packets on offer and the fact that private equity and finance work is what is attracting the big dollars to the top London lawyers practising in these lucrative areas of law.

Richard Trobman (above) of Latham & Watkins took over following the controversial resignation of Bill Voge following a sex scandal allegation and the CityAm report indicates his pay is up to $8 million. His area of specialty is leveraged finance, unsurprisingly, and it is now well over $10 million and he is not strictly a London lawyer in the sense that he practices from both New York and London as the firm’s Chair and Managing Partner.

A recognized expert in his field he has represented investment banks such as JP Morgan, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs.

Richard East (below) of Quinn Emanuel Urquart & Sullivan and made enormous fees for his firm by suing banks following the Global Financial Crisis. 

He took his work from Kirkland’s when he set up Quinn Emanuel’s London office in 2008 and – once again – he comes in at a suggested $7-$8 million, but the package now is higher. He co-managed the aggressive law firm for 11 years and continues to expand his reputation as a complex finance and banking litigator.

Yushan Ng left Linklaters to join US firm Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft in 2012 for a $4-$5 million salary, before leaving for another US firm, Milbank for an increased pay.

Apostolos Gkoutzinis (right) jumped from US heavyweight Shearman & Sterling to Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy and is a steadfast and stellar financial markets lawyer. Sources say Milbank stretched above $5 million to bring him into the Milbank fold.

Since 2005, Apostolos has advised a wide variety of banks or the issuers on some of the largest leveraged finance and high-yield bond transactions in Europe and is one of the most prominent international lawyers involved in Greece transactions and banking issues.

Jason Glover (above) is a former Clifford Chance funds chief who is yet another top-yielding lawyer to have been recruited by the high-paying, aggressive US-based law firms, joining Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, where he is London managing partner.  He also reached a $5 million right back in 2018 and will be well north of that figure now and almost certainly more than double the earlier earnings.

Ian Bagshaw is at White & Case although he previously worked closely with Richard Youle at Linklaters before leaving for White & Case in 2014 on a $4 million deal which may now be a million more.

Simon Twigden lead a litigation group from Addleshaw Goddard to found a litigation boutique, Enyo Law in 2010 and has gone on to achieve rich rewards by suing financial institutions and others.  Top partners at the firm, according to firm accounts, show partners made  £3.5m in 2018 and now have risen considerably according to reports and the growth of Enyo as a ‘disputes only’ law practise has seen it benefit from its ‘conflict-free’ approach obtaining key assignments from third party law firms and others.

Ward McKimm changed the pattern of jumping to mainly US law firms by moving from Kirklands to Freshfields in 2015, with the firm providing a deal outside the lockstep pay structure, providing the lawyer a $4.2 million.

Nigel Boardman is a former heavyweight lawyer from Slaughter and May, the most profitable UK law firm, who has now retired, been knighted and has the reputation of being a lawyer who acted for more FTSE companies than anyone else in the City.

While working he was earning well over $6 million while still at the firm.

And now, we only need to have some women in the top legal pay rates and ensure that gender equality is more than just a Big Law pipe dream, but also a cash pipe that reaches across the gender divide.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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