"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.
Olswang was an international law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom and with additional offices in Reading, Brussels, Madrid, Paris, Singapore and, since 2011, Munich. It worked closely with a network of firms across eighty countries. The Lawyer ranked the firm 22nd largest in the UK by worldwide turnover in 2010. That year, the firm had over 600 staff, including 97 partners. David Stewart was the firm's chief executive. On 1 May 2017, Olswang merged with CMS Cameron McKenna and Nabarro to form CMS Nabarro Olswang LLP.
CMS is an international law firm that offers legal and tax advisory services. It provides companies and organisations with advice on a full range of legal issues. CMS consists of 18 independent law firms with about 80 offices worldwide and is the world's 5th largest law firm by lawyer headcount and the 21st by revenue.
Herbert Smith LLP was a multinational law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The firm was founded in the City of London in 1882 by Norman Herbert Smith and merged with the Australian law firm Freehills on 1 October 2012, forming Herbert Smith Freehills. At the time of the merger it had 13 offices across Europe, the Middle East and Asia, around 240 partners and 1,300 fee-earners. It was regarded as forming part of the "Silver Circle" of leading British law firms.
Denton Wilde Sapte LLP was an international law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It merged with the United States–based law firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal in September 2010, forming SNR Denton. At the time of the merger, Denton Wilde Sapte had 16 offices and employed around 610 lawyers.
Latham & Watkins LLP is an American multinational law firm. Founded in 1934 in Los Angeles, California, Latham is the second-largest law firm in the world by revenue. As of 2022, Latham is also one of the most profitable law firms in the world, with profits per partner exceeding US$5.7 million.
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.
The Westfield Sydney to Melbourne Ultramarathon was an annual ultramarathon foot race held between 1983 and 1991. It was sponsored by the Westfield Group, with the start being at Westfield Parramatta shopping centre and the finish at Westfield Doncaster shopping centre .The event was the brainchild of Martin "Alby" Noonan, a distance runner who at the time was the Marketing and Promotions Manager for the Westfield Doncaster shopping centre.
SJ Berwin LLP was a multinational law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. SJ Berwin merged with the Hong Kong-headquartered law firm King & Wood Mallesons on 1 November 2013, becoming the fourth member of its Swiss Verein structure. SJ Berwin's legal name immediately changed to "King & Wood Mallesons LLP", although King & Wood Mallesons traded as "King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin" in Europe and the Middle East for a transitional period. SJ Berwin was a member of the "Silver Circle" of leading UK law firms. In January 2017, King & Wood Mallesons went into administration, which to that point was the biggest UK law firm collapse.
Clyde & Co is a global law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The firm is one of the top 10 largest law firms in the City of London and has the largest dispute resolution practice of any UK law firm. It employs 2,600 legal professionals and more than 5,000 total staff. In 2022–23, Clyde & Co's revenue was £788.6 million.
Lawrence Graham LLP was a multinational law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The firm had over 180 lawyers, and as well as London it had offices in Dubai, Moscow, Singapore and Monaco. Lawrence Graham merged with the Birmingham-headquartered law firm Wragge & Co in May 2014, forming Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co.
Travers Smith LLP is a corporate law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It advises national and multinational companies in the UK and internationally across the full range of corporate and commercial matters.
Ince & Co was a United Kingdom-based holding company with a core business in legal services, which was listed on the London Stock Exchange. The company also offered complementary services in accounting, financial services, consulting, and pensions advice. It was previously known as Ince Gordon Dadds LLP, following the acquisition of Ince & Co by Gordon Dadds Group LLP, and rebranded as The Ince Group in August 2019.
Nabarro LLP was an international law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. In 2014/15 it achieved total revenues of £126 million, making it the 34th-largest UK-based law firm by this measurement, and profits per equity partner of £576,000. It is part of an international alliance with other independent law firms covering Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the UK.
Stephenson Harwood LLP is a law firm with over 1,300 people worldwide, including more than 200 partners. Headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with eight offices across Asia, Europe and the Middle East. In 2020/21 it achieved total revenues of £209 million and profits per equity partner of £685,000 (2020/21)
Osborne Clarke is an international legal practice headquartered in London, England, UK with offices in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, China, India via BTG Legal, Singapore, the United States and Poland. The firm has over 320 partners and more than 2,440 employees spread across its 25 offices around the world. The firm's headquarters are located in London, United Kingdom.
Halliwells LLP was an English law firm practising from offices in Manchester, London, Liverpool and Sheffield, with 116 partners and around 850 employees. The LLP was established in 2004 to take over the practice of Halliwell Landau. Key individuals involved in its management were senior partner Alec Craig and managing partner Ian Austin, London office head Clive Garston, Liverpool office head and then managing partner Jonathan Brown, and Sheffield office head Suzanne Liversidge.
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.
DWF is a global legal business headquartered in Manchester, England, with 31 offices across the world. In March 2019, DWF was listed on the London Stock Exchange. With a £366m valuation and offer size of £95m, DWF became the UK's largest listed law firm.
In 2019, the top 50 Dutch law firms had around 4,476 attorneys and the top 30 law firms had around 183 notaries and 527 candidate notaries. According to the Chambers and Partners legal directory, the top five law firms in the Netherlands are Allen & Overy Netherlands, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, Houthoff, Loyens & Loeff and Stibbe. Every year advocatie.nl publishes a list of the 50 biggest law firms in headcount.
