Latham & Watkins has promoted 19 counsel to its global partnership, including five in London where the firm saw a string of partner exits last year focused on finance.
The latest round follows the Los Angeles giant, the second-largest law firm in the world by revenue, promoting 24 associates to partner in January – a step down on last year’s 34-strong group and the previous two years’ record 44-strong cohorts.
Five women were included in the latest round, or 26% of the total – down from last year when seven of the 19 counsel to make the cut were women (37%).
London’s five promotions meant it had the most of any city. The promotions were slanted toward transactional work and included Rachel Astin in the entertainment, sports and media practice, Alexander Buckeridge-Hocking (project development and finance), Michael Green (environment, land and resources) and Misa Schmiederova (banking). Luda Le Grand, who advises clients on UK and EU competition laws, also got the nod in the antitrust and competition practice.
The promotions follow Latham losing 13 London partners to rivals in 2024, more than double its average rate over the previous four years, according to data from legal recruiter Edwards Gibson.
Eight of the defections were finance partners leaving for Sidley, among them senior figures like former London finance co-chair Tania Bedi and former London managing partner Jayanthi Sadanandan, although the 500-lawyer office also saw senior litigation partners move to Paul Hastings and its former London IP head join Skadden, among other exits.
The departures came amid reports last summer that Latham’s partnership had voted to introduce “super points” into its compensation system to enable star partners to earn in excess of $20m in a bid to hold on to top talent.
The firm has moved to restock its London finance bench, adding a trio of lender-side leveraged finance partners from Cahill Gordon & Reindel last year and in January bringing on another leveraged finance partner – Hugh O’Sullivan – from Goodwin Procter.
Elsewhere, the firm has promoted two counsel to partner in Germany, where it also saw seven partners exit last year across restructuring, capital markets and M&A, including corporate heavyweight Tobias Larisch, who left to set up Kirkland & Ellis’s new Frankfurt office.
Lucas Schweitzer was welcomed in the M&A and private equity practice in Düsseldorf, while Frankfurt-based Daniel Splittgerber was made up in the restructuring and special situations practice.
The final promotion in Europe went to Tomas Nilsson in Brussels, who focuses on merger control matters and antitrust investigations.
Meantime, there were eight promotions across the US in this round, a change from previous years when the promotions have been weighted toward the firm’s home country.
The New York office welcomed three new partners across arbitration, banking and restructuring, with bankruptcy litigation specialist Hugh Murtagh’s promotion coming just a few months after Latham hired a quartet of bankruptcy partners from Weil and Paul Weiss in New York to expand its restructuring capabilities.
The rest of the US promotions were spread across Houston, Chicago, Washington DC, the Bay Area and Los Angeles across diverse practice areas including privacy, IP litigation and white-collar defence.
There were also two promotions in the Middle East, one in Dubai and another in Riyadh’s heated legal market, where the firm established its MENA region headquarters last year and welcomed Peter Norris in the banking practice.
The final promotion went to M&A and private equity lawyer Michael Rackham, who is based in Singapore.
The promotions are spread across 12 practice areas, including three apiece in the firm’s banking and M&A and private equity practices. There were also two promotions each in the project development and finance, antitrust and competition, and restructuring practices.
Latham chair and managing partner Rich Trobman said he was “proud” of the newly-minted partners’ accomplishments, adding: “Their leadership and dedication strengthen our firm, helping us build on our success.”
Latham’s gross revenue stood at $5.7bn with profit per equity partner of $5.5m in 2023, according to data published by The American Lawyer.
The promotions are effective from 1 March 2025. A full list of the promotions can be found here.
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