US law firms are planning to push ahead with expansion in
London despite the continued impact of the economic downturn.
Legal Week’s annual survey of US law firms in London has revealed that 86% of respondents plan to actively recruit in the City this year despite the market conditions.
The figure represents only a tiny drop on last year’s figure of 91% — with the overwhelming majority of the 51 firms questioned remaining committed to expansion.
Of these, almost two-thirds (64%) are planning to grow by up to 25% over the next 18 months and nearly one in four are planning to grow by 25% to 50%. Many firms are even willing to risk launching a new practice area in the City, with 20% saying they plan to start a new business line within the next 12 months.
The results are significant as lateral partner hires at elite US firms in London have slowed over the last year, with firms struggling to recruit due to rising profitability at City firms. Morrison & Foerster London managing partner Julian Thurston (pictured), said: “Now is a time when we are going to move up the pecking order.”
Andy Russell, director of recruitment consultancy Abrahams Russell, said the downturn could make it easier to recruit. “Firms have been chasing the same, small pool of people. Until now these individuals have been making good money where they are, they are well looked after and they have been very busy.”
Firms are not just hoping to expand at the senior level. The survey found that 65% of respondents now operate their own training programmes in the UK, up from 51% in 2006. New entrants to the trainee market include Chadbourne & Parke and Nixon Peabody, which will both take on their first trainees in September.
The survey also found that while the number of US firms actively saying they would consider a merger with a UK firm is roughly the same as last year, the number of firms rejecting the idea outright has fallen from 34% to 26%.
Peter Kalis, chairman and global managing partner of K&L Gates, said: “If there were the right configuration of practices and we were able to grow our critical mass, then of course we would be open to that.”
Click on the link below for the full survey of US firms in London
US Firms In London 2008
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