It is easy to forget there was once a time – think dotcom mania and, more importantly, Legal Week’s launch – when few doubted that the pride of English law like Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters would secure top-tier mergers in New York.
Now expectations have dropped so low that even partners within the firms wonder if it is possible for them to bag a high-profile M&A partner hire, let alone a respectable merger. Both firms currently have about 60 fee earners based stateside. Running to form, Linklaters has been the more aggressive of late, hiring Shearman & Sterling litigation partners Paul Wickes, James Warnot and Mary Warren, finance partner Gary Barnett and Sidley Austin Brown & Wood finance partner Adam Glass over the past 18 months.
