Pirical Data Insights
Legal market insights brought to you using Pirical Legal Professionals
Last week, Troutman Pepper and Locke Lord confirmed they had opened merger negotiations. If successful, the combination would create a law firm of around 1,600 lawyers and revenue of more than $1.5 billion. The merged firm would jump into the top 30 of the AM Law 100 (currently Troutman Pepper is 45th & Locke Lord is 96th). This made us wonder, what would the merged firm look like, and which offices & practices would see the most growth?
A few weeks ago we presented a deep dive into the state of the Bay Area Legal Market. We uncovered some interesting insights on Partner growth and the different strategies that some of the fastest growing law firms have deployed there, so we've published the findings as an article.
A few weeks ago we published an article looking at which AM Law 100 firms have been the best at retaining their lateral Partner hires . In last place, with a retention rate of 60% (between 2020-2023) was Shearman & Sterling. Presumably, the upcoming merger with Allen & Overy has been a major factor in the firm's more recent Partner departures. So this got us thinking, how many Partners have left the firm since the A&O Shearman merger was announced back in May 2023, and have there been more or fewer exits than in other recent mergers?
Using data from Pirical Legal Professionals (PLP) we've taken a look at how many of the lateral Partners hired between 2020 - 2023 by AM Law 100 firms, are still at the their new firm.
A look at which rival law firms have benefited from the demise of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. See where Stroock Partners have ended up and which offices & practice areas have been the most affected.
At the start of October Kirkland & Ellis announced their latest cohort of Partner promotions, with a record 205 attorneys making the cut.
Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling are due to begin the Partner votes on their proposed merger at the end of this month. If approved, the merger will create a mega firm of almost 4,000 attorneys worldwide. Given that the deal would represent a major milestone for a UK firm securing a foothold in the US market, we decided to have a look at what Allen & Overy's presence in the United States could look like if the merger goes ahead.
US law firms have been hiring more London based Partners than their UK counterparts over the last few years. Using Pirical Legal Professionals and Pirical On Demand we looked at some of the data behind this trend.
A look at US Partner headcount growth over the last 3 years among some of the top AM Law 100 firms. See which firms have been growing in which cities, where their partnership has been shrinking and where new offices have opened up.