US law firms remain publicly committed to expanding their London offices despite wider concerns that it could take until 2010 for current economic conditions to improve. This is the key finding of Legal Week‘s annual US law firms in London survey, which reveals that 86% plan to increase their headcount over the next 18 months. This is only slightly less than in 2007, when 91% of US firms earmarked further growth for their London operations.
Continuing the theme, few of the 51 firms that responded are scaling back on their ambitious growth targets, with the predicted rates of growth almost exactly the same as in the 2007 survey – even though the economic outlook has worsened considerably since then. The figure is significantly down on 2006, however, when 96% of US firms in the City pledged to increase headcount. Whether US firms’ London managers are blind optimists or market opportunists is up for debate: according to firms’ survey responses, dispute resolution, corporate and finance lawyers are the most likely to be pursued by US firms. Andy Russell, director of recruitment consultancy Abrahams Russell, explains that one of the reasons for this has been the shortage of potential lateral hires of the right quality and experience. “There have not been enough of the right people moving around in areas such as acquisition finance, M&A and private equity,” he says. “A number of firms have been chasing the same pretty small pool of people, who have been hard to prise away. Until now, these individuals have been making good money where they are, they are well looked after and have been very busy.”
