Maher viewed from the other side of the pond

Opinion on this side of the Atlantic about top US firms is often heavily shaped by the profile of their London offices. It stands to reason that it is easier to test the pulse of a US firm’s City operation than it is to delve into the inner workings of its Washington DC or Chicago branches. So we are grateful to our colleagues at Legal Week’s new US sister title Legal Times for throwing some invaluable light on how Mayer Brown’s bid to raise its profitability is going down in its US heartlands.

‘Unsettled’ is a word that springs to mind when considering the firm’s current mood. That is not to suggest for a moment that the transatlantic giant is in crisis mode but it is meddling with the chemistry that binds every law firm together. This is always risky, but it is especially bold when there is a lack of consensus about where the firm should be going. And if you throw in a controversial round of de-equitisations… well, it all starts to look a little bumpy.

Ever since Mayer Brown’s merger with Rowe & Maw, the firm’s fortunes on this side of the Atlantic have been closely associated with Paul Maher, the man who steered the mid-tier London firm into the US giant’s embrace. Legal Times’ article suggests that Maher is fast becoming a pivotal figure across the entire firm. He is being characterised as the hardliner within the firm’s management triumvirate – the person who is determined to raise the firm’s profits to more respectable levels.

Can he succeed? Well, Tony Angel, Neville Eisenberg and David Childs all did it, to greater or less degrees. But all three sat at the centre of their firms and had built up strong power-bases. For an outsider like Maher to do the same at a US stalwart such as Mayer Brown would be a remarkable achievement.

Anyway, while we’re on the subject of our US counterparts, a number of readers have asked how Legal Week will be working with American Lawyer Media (ALM) now that our parent company, Incisive Media, has completed its acquisition of the US company.

Considering the size of the deal, we’re still working out a lot of the details but a day-one initiative is that both sides of the legal group are freely using copy from both sides. So, while we will bring the cream of ALM’s journalism to a new European audience, they will (and already are) frequently carrying stories from Legal Week Stateside.

That means many of our stories will hit ALM’s umbrella website, law.com, which currently has around half a million unique users. Legal Week will also be frequently collaborating with ALM’s flagship monthly, American Lawyer. More details on that to come soon.

john.malpas@legalweek.com