![]() | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
![]() | |
Headquarters | 10 Upper Bank Street, Canary Wharf, London, United Kingdom |
---|---|
No. of offices | 34 offices across 23 countries [1] |
No. of lawyers | Approx. 3,680 [2] |
Major practice areas |
|
Key people |
|
Revenue | £ 2.04 billion (US$2.79 billion) (2022–23) [4] |
Profit per equity partner | £ 2 million (US$2.74 million) (2022–23) [4] |
Date founded | 1987 |
Company type | Limited liability partnership |
Website | cliffordchance |
Clifford Chance LLP is a British multinational law firm headquartered in London, England, and a member of the "Magic Circle", a group of London-based multinational law firms.
In 2022-2023 Clifford Chance was the third largest law firm headquartered in the UK by revenue, having in that period a total revenue of £ 2.04 billion ( US$ 2.79 billion) [5] . In 2015 it ranked as one of top ten largest law firms in the world measured both by revenue [6] with profits per equity partner exceeding £2 million. In 2023 it ranked 13th. [7]
According to Acuris, as of 2020 Clifford Chance secured the most European M&A mandates, becoming the most popular adviser to top-tier private equity clients in the continent. [8] In the same year it was named International Law Firm of the Year at the International Financial Law Review (IFLR) Europe Awards, part of the Euromoney group. [9]
Clifford Chance was created by the merger in 1987 of two London-based law firms – Coward Chance and Clifford-Turner.
Coward Chance derived from a firm established in 1802 by Anthony Brown. Brown's firm became embroiled in the Panic of 1825, caused by speculation in South American investments, including the non-existent country of Poyais, invented by Scottish soldier Gregor MacGregor. One of the firm's longest clients was Cecil Rhodes. The firm advised him on his diamond mining business in South Africa, administered his estate after his death and helped set up the Rhodes Scholarships. Another client was Guglielmo Marconi. It also helped Midland Bank recover assets in Russia after the 1917 revolution, and advised the state government of Hyderabad on the preparation for Indian independence.
Clifford-Turner was founded in 1900 by Harry Clifford Turner, with offices on Gresham Street, EC2. Its clients included Dunlop Rubber Company and Imperial Airways. In 1929, Clifford-Turner advised and witnessed the creation of John Lewis Partnership. After the Second World War it advised the Labour government on the nationalisation of several privately owned industries. It opened offices in Paris in 1961, Amsterdam in 1972, Madrid in 1980 and New York in 1986. [10]
Neither Clifford-Turner nor Coward Chance had been first-rank London law firms, but their merger has since been said to have changed the shape and profile of law firms in London and globally. [11]
Over the next decade the firm expanded its practices across Europe and Asia and more than doubled in size. In 1992 Clifford Chance became the first major non-US firm to practice US law. [12]
Global expansion
In 1999, Clifford Chance merged with Frankfurt-based law firm Pünder, Volhard, Weber & Axster and with the 1871-established US-based firm Rogers & Wells (the use of the Pünder, Volhard, Weber & Axster and Rogers & Wells branding for their respective European and United States regional offices was discontinued in 2003). In 2002, Clifford Chance launched in California, setting up a branch with nearly 50 attorneys from the disbanding dot-com firm Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison in Los Angeles, Palo Alto, San Diego and San Francisco. With California's downturn, the firm closed its Pacific Coast operations in 2007. [13]
Clifford Chance was one of several international law firms that developed local law practices in Japan following the easing of restrictions on foreign law firms in 2005. Clifford Chance was the highest-ranked European law firm by Japanese corporate legal departments in a December 2013 Nihon Keizai Shimbun survey. [14]
Like other firms in the Magic Circle, the firm lost significant revenue during the late-2000s recession, with its profit dropping by 33.4% in the 2008-9 financial year. [15] As part of cost cutting in response to the recession, in 2009 Clifford Chance announced plans to lay off 80 lawyers and 115 support staff in London. [16] In addition, the firm accepted the redundancy applications of 50 fee earners in London over and above the initial 80 lawyers. [17] In 2011, the firm moved back office tasks to its 350-employee Global Shared Service Centre, including a 60-employee Knowledge Centre in New Delhi, India as an efficiency measure. [18]
In May 2011, Clifford Chance opened offices in Australia by merging with two M&A boutique law firms, Sydney-based Chang, Pistilli & Simmons and Perth-based Cochrane Lishman Carson Luscombe. [19] [20] In February 2012, Clifford Chance opened a new office in Casablanca, giving the firm's Africa practice its first permanent on the ground presence in the continent. [21] In July 2012, Clifford Chance became the first UK firm to receive permission from South Korea's Ministry of Justice to open an office in the country. [22]
In November 2011 it was identified as the largest supplier to the City of London Corporation, having received over £9m in fees from the corporation between January and September of that year. [23] In February 2018, following the January 2018 liquidation of construction and services business Carillion, around 60 staff at Carillion's Newcastle-based legal services arm joined Clifford Chance. [24] On 2 May 2018, Clifford Chance announced the establishment of a delivery and innovation hub in Singapore to serve the Asia-Pacific Region. [25]
Controversies
In 2002 concerns were raised after an internal memo from members of the New York office implied that working conditions tempted staff to "pad out" billing hours. Staff are required to bill 2,420 hours a year. [26] [27]
In 2020, the Clifford Chance office in Frankfurt, Germany, was searched as part of an investigation into the tax dealings of ABN Amro Bank. [28] [29]
In March and April 2024, the Polish office of Clifford Chance became the subject of controversy related to its role in the process of changes in public media, introduced since the end of 2023 by the new Polish authorities after the elections in October 2023. [30] [31] [32]
The firm maintains offices in the following cities:
The Big Four are the four largest professional services networks in the world: Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and PwC. They are the four largest global accounting networks as measured by revenue. The four are often grouped because they are comparable in size relative to the rest of the market, both in terms of revenue and workforce; they are considered equal in their ability to provide a wide scope of professional services to their clients; and, among those looking to start a career in professional services, particularly accounting, they are considered equally attractive networks to work in, because of the frequency with which these firms engage with Fortune 500 companies.
A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other matters in which legal advice and other assistance are sought.
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP is an international law firm with 31 offices worldwide. Bryan Cave was headquartered in St Louis, Missouri. Berwin Leighton Paisner was headquartered in London.
"The Magic Circle" is an informal term describing the five most prestigious London-headquartered multinational law firms, which generally outperform the rest of the London law firms on profitability. The term has also been used to describe the most prestigious barristers' chambers in London. All of the 'Magic Circle' law firms and barristers' chambers specialise primarily in corporate law.
Slaughter and May is a British multinational law firm headquartered in London, England. Founded in 1889, Slaughter and May is considered to be one of the most prestigious law firms in the world and is a member of the "Magic Circle" of elite London-headquartered law firms. In addition to London, it has offices in Beijing, Brussels and Hong Kong.
Squire Patton Boggs is an international law firm with over 40 offices in 20 countries. It was formed in 2014 by the merger of multinational law firm Squire Sanders with Washington, D.C. based Patton Boggs. It is one of the largest law firms in the world by total headcount and gross revenue, twelfth largest firm in the UK by revenue, and one of the top 12 by number of countries occupied.
Addleshaw Goddard LLP is an international law firm headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. It is structured as a fully integrated LLP and has circa 1,600 lawyers including 380 partners in 19 offices located in Aberdeen, Berlin, Doha, Dubai, Dublin, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Hamburg, Leeds, London, Luxembourg, Manchester, Munich, Muscat, Paris, Riyadh, Singapore and Tokyo. The firm advises FTSE 100 and other major companies across corporate, commercial, finance and project, real estate and litigation business divisions with specialist fields such as private capital; energy, financial services, health and life sciences, real estate, retail and consumer, construction and transport sectors; and has a strong interest in tech.
Bird & Bird is an international law firm that was founded in London in 1846. The firm has since expanded to over 30 offices in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and has a particular focus on the technology, media, and telecommunications sectors. In addition to its core practice areas of intellectual property, litigation, and corporate and commercial law, the firm also covers areas such as employment, competition, and regulatory law. Bird & Bird's clients are based across 118 countries worldwide and 75% of major clients work with more than one office, making it a collaborative international network.
Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP was a large law firm based in San Francisco, California, United States. In 2003, the firm was liquidated under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, after it had lost a substantial amount of money in the dot-com bubble and merger talks with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius had fallen through.
Deacons is a leading law firm in Hong Kong with over 300 attorneys and 700 employees.
Reed Smith LLP is a global law firm with more than 1,500 lawyers in 30 offices throughout the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
TLT LLP is a UK law firm headquartered in Bristol. It was named Law Firm of the Year at The Lawyer Awards 2021. Based on its revenue, TLT was among the top 50 law firms in the UK in 2020, according to The Lawyer. Its revenue was £110m in 2020–21; this represents an increase of 11% on 2019–20 (£98.8m) and a 25% rise on the 2018–19 figure (£87.6m). The firm employs over 1,000 staff. The firm has offices in London and Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast and opened its Birmingham office in 2023.. Overseas, the firm operates an office in Piraeus, Greece. It also has strategic partnerships with European firms GSJ advocaten in Belgium and Holla in the Netherlands to deliver international cross border services for clients.
Bingham McCutchen LLP was a global law firm with approximately 850 attorneys in nine US offices and five international offices. It ceased operations in late 2015, when several hundred of its partners and associate lawyers left the firm to join Philadelphia-based Morgan Lewis.
Haarmann Hemmelrath was a German professional services firm which provided legal services, audit counsel and tax advice. Haarmann Hemmelrath was founded in Munich in 1987 and at its peak employed 650 professionals, including 350 attorneys in 22 offices worldwide. It was broken up in 2006.
Rogers & Wells was an international law firm founded in New York City in 1873. After several name changes, it was renamed for William P. Rogers and John A. Wells. Firms that merged with it include Dwight, Harris, Koegel & Caskey of New York.
Kim & Chang is an international law firm headquartered in Seoul. Founded in 1973, it is the largest law firm in South Korea by headcount, with over 1,200 professionals and offices in Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Ho Chi Minh City. In 2016, it became the first Korean law firm to be included in the world's top 100 law firms by the American Lawyer, ranking 59th with a revenue of $686 million. In 2017, the firm posted a revenue of ₩1.01 trillion, becoming Korea's first law firm to reach a revenue milestone of 1 trillion won.
King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) is an international commercial law firm headquartered in Hong Kong. It is the largest international law firm in Asia-Pacific. It has thirty offices and more than 3,500 legal professionals in Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East.
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) is an international law firm with headquarters in London, United Kingdom and Sydney, Australia. HSF has been widely acknowledged as one of the world's most elite and selective law firms, and, as of 2021, was the 33rd largest by revenue. It was formed on 1 October 2012 by a merger between the United Kingdom-based Herbert Smith, then a member of the "Silver Circle" of leading UK law firms, and Freehills, one of the "Big Six" Australian law firms.
Krogerus is one of the largest business law firms in Finland. It is headquartered in Helsinki and has offices in Kuopio and Turku. The firm's revenue was approximately €53 million, as of the financial period ending 31 March 2023. Krogerus employs approximately 260 professionals.
The legal services sector of the United Kingdom is a significant part of the national economy; it had a total output of £22.6 billion in 2013, up from 10.6 billion in 2001, and is equivalent to 1.6% of the country's gross domestic product for that year. The sector has a trade surplus is £3.1 billion in 2013 and directly employees 316,000 people, two-thirds of whom are located outside London. The UK is the world's most international market for legal services. It allows virtually unrestricted access for foreign firms, resulting in over 200 foreign law firms with offices in London and other cities in the UK. Around half of these are US firms, with the remainder mainly from Europe, Australia and Canada. The UK legal market has a strong global position due to the popularity of English law. Some 27% of the world's 320 legal jurisdictions use English Common law.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)