Sullivan & Cromwell has surprised London’s legal market with the hire of Allen & Overy (A&O) corporate partner Vanessa Blackmore to make its UK corporate law launch. The firm voted on Blackmore’s hire last week and she is expected to join after the summer, taking the elite Wall Street firm to three UK partners. She will be the first with equity capital markets and M&A experience, as partners Jamie Logie and Craig Jones both focus on finance work.
The move, reported on legal-week.com (15 May), ends a prolonged hunt by Sullivan for a UK corporate partner to replicate its success in Paris, where it has scooped lucrative work with a lean practice staffed by lawyers such as former Clifford Chance rainmaker Dominique Bompoint.
The firm rarely makes lateral hires, preferring to grow organically, but it is expecting to add further English law associates to work with Blackmore, while Sullivan London head William Plapinger is not ruling out further partner hires.
He said: "[Blackmore] brings a very versatile practice, and that is very important for us as we are not as specialised as the magic circle firms. We have seen a rising demand from clients to provide the advice that Vanessa can give."
One corporate partner at a rival US firm in London commented: "They have never said they were going to build a huge London practice, but the hire is a little surprising. I would have thought they would have gone for a bigger name."
However, the entry of one of the US’ top firms into the City corporate market will be watched warily by Londonfirms,afterthreeyearsduring which Sullivan is acknowledged to have made substantial in-roads into the European deal market.
One partner at another US firm in London told Legal Week: "They want to focus on servicing existing clients, so people have not been falling over themselves to go there. The hire may not be consistent with what they have done elsewhere, like France, where they have hired ‘dooropeners’ straight away.
"However, this is the last piece of the jigsaw for Sullivan in London. They already have a tremendous client base among UK and European clients and will now [pose] competition."