If major law firms’ relationships with banks were important before the financial crisis, they are vital now. A recent report by TheCityUK shows that nearly half of all deal activity by the top 50 London law firms over the last five years has been for financial services clients. Meanwhile, a prolonged period of investigations and litigation across the banking industry has handed mandates to a multitude of top-tier firms, with multimillion-pound fines and settlements making the news on a regular basis in recent years.
In the initial aftermath of the financial crisis, a run of disputes mandates quickly turned litigators into the golden boys of law firm partnerships, with many firms making high-profile hires and building up their white collar practices to deal with the flood of work coming through their door. But as consensus builds that the most damaging cases have largely filtered through the system, and with the standard limitation period of six years to bring claims resulting from the crisis expiring last year, it is the increased oversight of the banking industry, in particular by US and UK regulators, that has become the mainstay of work for law firm financial services partners.
