Welcome to this week’s update, where we bring you the latest moves, promotions, and strategic appointments shaping the legal industry.
Partner Moves
Individual
UK & Ireland
Freeths secures major tax hire with appointment of David Smith
David Smith joins Freeths from DLA Piper and brings more than 20 years’ experience advising multinational businesses, private equity investors and management teams on high-value domestic and cross-border tax matters.
Browne Jacobson hires specialist Insurance Arbitration Partner
Browne Jacobson has appointed Antony Woodhouse as a Partner in its London office. Woodhouse joins from DWF.
Winston Taylor loses leading Life Sciences Partner to Ropes & Gray
Ropes & Gray has hired Life Sciences Partner Alison Dennis from Winston Taylor, adding one of the market’s top-ranked specialists to its London office. Dennis joins after six years at Winston Taylor and legacy firm Taylor Wessing, where she served as International Co-Head of the firm’s life sciences and healthcare group.
Private client expertise gets a boost as Geldards welcomes Partner
Law firm Geldards has strengthened its private client team in the East Midlands with the appointment of Partner Laura Mackin. Mackin joins from Knights, bringing with her almost twenty years of private client expertise.
Bristows enhances its AI offering with hire of leading AI Partner Tom Sharpe
Bristows has announced that Tom Sharpe, a leading AI Partner has joined the firm. Sharpe joins from TLT.
DLA Piper appoints new construction specialist to London Real Estate practice
DLA Piper has appointed Adriano Amorese as a new Real Estate Partner to its London team. He joins from Mishcon de Reya, where he was Head of Non-Contentious Construction.
King & Spalding Continues International Disputes Push, Adding Partner Charlie Caher in London
Charlie Caher has joined the firm’s London office as part of the ongoing expansion of its International Disputes practice group. Caher moves from WilmerHale, rejoining former colleagues Gary Born, Franz Schwarz, Marleen Krueger, Rachael Kent and Danielle Morris, who joined King & Spalding last month.
Europe
Latham Hires Brussels Partner from Freshfields
Competition Partner Sascha Schubert has left Freshfields after almost two decades to join Latham & Watkins in Brussels.
HFW bulks up Paris group with Public Law Partner
HFW has added public law specialist Rémi Ducloyer as a Partner in its Paris office. Ducloyer joins from from Bréon Ducloyer Avocats, a boutique firm he co-founded in 2022.
Middle East
White & Case adds Project Finance Partner in Riyadh
White & Case has expanded its presence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the addition of Abdullah Al-Hoqail as a Partner in Riyadh. He specialises in project development and finance and brings more than 15 years of experience, having previously led his own firm and held roles at Clifford Chance and Latham & Watkins.
Team
Fieldfisher to launch digital finance regulatory team in Berlin
Fieldfisher has bolstered its Berlin office with the appointment of Eric Romba as a Partner in its financial markets and products practice. Arriving from Osborne Clarke with two as-yet undisclosed lawyers in tow, Romba will establish a dedicated Berlin-based digital finance regulatory team in collaboration with lawyers from the firm’s Frankfurt office.
Promotions & Appointments
Mishcon de Reya’s new Managing Partner takes over role
Daniel Naftalin has taken up his role as Mishcon de Reya’s new Managing Partner. Daniel was elected by partners earlier this year and takes over today from outgoing Managing Partner James Libson following a transition period.
Raft of senior promotions at Thorntons
Thorntons has promoted 29 lawyers across its Scottish network, including four new Legal Directors. This is up from 23 promotions in 2025.
Fieldfisher welcomes Rodolphe Amaudric du Chaffaut as Partner within the Corporate M&A / Private Equity department in Paris. He joins from Goodwin where he was an Associate.
Transport Lawyer promoted to Partner at Womble Bond Dickinson
Todd Rayner has been promoted to Partner at Womble Bond Dickinson.
Debt Finance Partner Maroussia Cuny Joins Kirkland & Ellis In Paris
Maroussia Cuny will join the Firm as a Partner in the Debt Finance practice group. Cuny joins from Ropes & Gray where she was Counsel.
Firm and Market Activity
Office Openings & Closings
Charles Russell Speechlys Opens New York Office and Connecticut Practice
Charles Russell Speechlys announced the opening of its new office at 1 Rockefeller Plaza, New York City. This is the firm’s 16th global location and its first in North America, with the office establishing a permanent US presence for Charles Russell Speechlys’ private capital practice. The firm is simultaneously opening a practice in New Haven, Connecticut.
Eversheds Sutherland takes possession of new Birmingham home – “the countdown to 2027 starts now”
Law firm Eversheds Sutherland has officially taken possession of its Birmingham home at Three Chamberlain Square ahead of a planned summer 2027 relocation. The firm will relocate its 500-strong Birmingham team across two floors of the premises.
Vardags announces office opening in Bologna
Divorce law firm Vardags announces the opening of their Bologna office, following the opening of their first office in Milan in January. Leading the Bologna office is Manuela Tirini, an Italian family law specialist with over thirty years of experience.
Japan’s Nagashima Ohno to launch Silicon Valley office
Japanese Big Four firm Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu is set to open an office in Silicon Valley, amid growing demand for legal advice on Japan-US transactions and investment on the West Coast. The office will be the firm’s second in the US after the New York base it opened in 2010 and is intended to serve Japanese companies doing business in advanced industries in the region including AI, semiconductors, space, life sciences and software, as well as start-ups and venture capital. It will also advise US West Coast companies on Japanese law and cross-border matters including entry into the Japanese market and M&A.
Financial Results
Bevan Brittan smashes £100m barrier with 17 per cent revenue jump
Bevan Brittan’s revenue rose 17 per cent in 2025/26, with profit up 13 per cent. The national firm, which has offices in London, Leeds, Birmingham and Bristol, saw revenue increase from £86.7m to £101.2m, while profit rose from £19.6m to £22.1m.
Bird & Bird’s growth slows as firm pushes on to €1bn target
Bird & Bird remains “confident” it will hit its €1bn revenue target by 2030 despite reporting a slowdown in revenue growth. The firm’s revenue grew by 4 per cent to €702m (£606m) for 2025/26, down from 6 per cent growth the previous year. Prior to this, the firm delivered revenue growth of over 10 per cent a year for three consecutive years.
Knights squeezes lockup further as it posts full financials
The firm reported its headline figures in May: a revenue increase of 28 per cent to £207.7m for the 2025/26 financial year. Underlying profit before tax rose 18 per cent to £33.2m. The full report reveals net debt rose slightly from £64.8m to £65.4m after around £17m of acquisition related payments. Knights made several acquisitions in 2025/26: the UK200 duo Birkett Long and IBB, and the smaller firms Rix & Kay in Brighton and Le Gros Solicitors in Cardiff.
Market Commentary
Kirkland tops global M&A rankings after strongest first half for dealmaking since records began
Kirkland & Ellis led the global M&A legal advisor rankings by deal value in the first half of the year, following the strongest first six months for dealmaking since records began in 1980, according to data from the London Stock Exchange Group. The Chicago-founded firm worked on 350 deals worth just short of $474.5bn, roughly 18% higher than second-place Skadden, which worked on 105 deals worth $402.8bn.
Linklaters, Freshfields, Sullivan & Cromwell Top H1 M&A Rankings in EMEA, Boosted by German Deals
The M&A results for EMEA H1 2026 are in, with three familiar names among those topping the law firm rankings: Freshfields, Linklaters, and Sullivan & Cromwell. The value of announced EMEA deals jumped 59% year on year, even as the number of transactions fell 14%, LSEG found.
DLA Piper hands London NQs another £10k
DLA Piper has upped its newly qualified lawyer salary from £130,000 to £140,000 as the London market turns up the heat on early-career recruitment. London trainee salaries have also been increased by £3,000 – first years will now get £55,000, and second years £60,000.
Womble Bond Dickinson slaps £300 levy on business class flights in bid to protect oysters
Womble Bond Dickinson has introduced a £300 charge on business class flights taken by its lawyers and staff, with the funds raised going towards restoring native oyster populations along the south coast. The firm’s latest responsible business report reveals that the “Carbon Fee” was added to its travel policy as part of a wider effort to cut down on business travel emissions. The policy also prioritises lower-emission options such as rail travel and discourages journeys deemed unnecessary altogether.
Innovation & Culture
Technology & Innovation
Barnes & Thornburg selects 38 lawyers as firm’s AI ‘champions’
Barnes & Thornburg has picked 38 of its lawyers to help colleagues use artificial intelligence technology more effectively across the firm. The law firm uses AI extensively. Nearly 90% of the firm’s attorneys are actively using AI tools, including from legal AI start-up Harvey and Thomson Reuters. The lawyers − picked because they were enthusiastic AI users − give video talks on AI within their legal practices. The creation of a group of staff outside the tech department to advise lawyers on how to get full value from AI is a sign of the technology’s increasing importance to law firms’ daily operations and strategy.
Amazon GC calls on law firms to partner with clients to deliver elusive AI savings
While studies show nearly all in-house legal practitioners are using AI in some way and that legaltech budgets are expanding, few are seeing value generation flowing from this increased investment, according to Amazon’s associate general counsel Kathy Sheehan. “The adoption and use numbers look great, but where are the savings?” said Sheehan, during her keynote address at the LegalTechTalk conference in London on 17 June about Amazon’s legal AI journey. “Where’s the transformation? That’s the real conversation that we need to be having. We’re still waiting for the value creation.”
Palantir courting major law firms after Kirkland AI partnership
Palantir is approaching law firms in a bid to strike further AI partnerships following its collaboration with Kirkland & Ellis. The Lawyer understands Palantir has been using its work with Kirkland as a “case study” to open conversations via email with other law firms.