It seems unfortunately symbolic that McDermott Will & Emery is about to celebrate its 10th anniversary in London under the management of a US-qualified lawyer. As announced yesterday, energy specialist Doron Ezickson is to succeed David Dalgarno as the firm’s new London managing partner.
It’s an ironic move for a firm that made its name nearly a decade ago by offering the then-princely sum of £1m for City partners and building its London practice around locally-qualified lawyers targeting European work. At the time, when most US firms were obsessed with servicing domestic clients’ foreign needs, this was pioneering stuff, with only White & Case having the dash to pursue a similar strategy. Yet these days, even Wall St conservatives like Sullivan & Cromwell hand over some management duties to foreign lawyers and whatever difficulties White & Case is experiencing at the moment, there is no doubt that the firm has delivered on its decentralised strategy.
