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US Law Firm of the Year

This award highlights the US firm that has made the greatest progress over the past year in advancing its strategy, improving financial performance and winning instructions, particularly in the City. A large international presence is not a prerequisite for consideration for this award, although the judges will be looking for strong evidence of success in those foreign markets where the firm has offices.

Previous Winners / Nominees

Winner

White & Case

Melissa Butler

2018 financial results continue a blistering run for the firm both globally and in London – City revenue was up 7% to $350m, as firm-wide revenue increased 14% to break the $2bn mark. Sixteen London laterals included infrastructure partner Simon Caridia from Herbert Smith Freehills as the firm ramped up its NY-London focus and ambitious 2020 strategy to go toe-to-toe with the Magic Circle.

Nominee

Cooley HIGHLY COMMENDED

Justin Stock

Cooley’s London branch recorded another year of double-digit revenue growth as its top line grew 16% to $66.7m, four years after its launch. For the second year in a row, the City office outpaced the Palo Alto-bred firm’s global revenue growth, as the latter rose 14% from $1.07bn to $1.23bn. The firm began the new year with another office launch, opening its first continental European base in Brussels.

Nominee

Goodwin

Samantha Lake Coghlan, Paul Lyons

Goodwin continues its meteoric rise in the City and around the globe. Its London arm grew at more than three times the pace of the firm globally in 2018, hitting $66.8m in the year in which the firm launched a European life sciences practice. The eye-catching 58% growth in London from $42.3m came as Goodwin’s global turnover rose 16% to $1.2bn and profit per equity partner was up by
14% to $2.46m.

Nominee

Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy

Julian Stait

Milbank celebrated its 40th anniversary in London by posting a 25% revenue hike for its City branch to $156m from $125m in 2018. It kicked off 2018 with a number of lateral hires, including a four-partner restructuring team from Cadwalader, and followed that with the hires of Apostolos Gkoutzinis and colleague Rebecca Marques from Shearman & Sterling.

Nominee

Morrison & Foerster

Alistair Maughan

In 2018 MoFo’s UK revenue grew 29% to £24.72m in a significant year for its London office, which has in recent times enjoyed considerable success, as has the wider global business. A clear sign of this was the news that the firm had hired one of the City’s most respected finance veterans, Chris Kandel, from Latham & Watkins.

Nominee

Paul Hastings

Arun Birla

2018 was yet another strong year for the City arm of Paul Hastings, which has seen headcount and revenue double over the last five years. The results also come after the firm made aggressive hires in the last 12 months, with former DLA Piper private equity partner Anu Balasubramanian and ex-Linklaters M&A partner Roger Barron the standout recruits.