We at Law.com regard ourselves as business, rather than ‘legal’, journalists. Yes, maybe that is a little highfalutin, but it helps us zero in on our overarching goal: to bring our audience essential stories on the inner workings of the world’s largest law firms.
But when folks less familiar with the industry—interviewees, fellow hacks, my mum—ask us why we do so many stories about 'people moves', it reminds me that there are certain things peculiar to our industry that perhaps wouldn’t resonate with readers of news about, say, the pharma or retail industries.
So I’d formulated a stock answer that goes a little something like this: It’s not just about a person going from A to B, mum. Partner moves reflect a shift in market share, sometimes key clients trading allegiances, often a migration of multiple fee earners and possibly millions of dollars of potential revenue going from one business to another. If there's time, I'll add: These 'moves' can have huge consequences for how a firm's partnership and remuneration is structured, how profits are distributed, how a firm is viewed by clients and competitors and, ultimately, for the firm's wider working culture.
This was a reality that came starkly to life for Latham & Watkins this week, when a handful of high profile partners exited the firm’s U.K. and Germany bases in the same week.
First, Frankfurt was hit when arch-rival Kirkland & Ellis came for M&A partner Tobias Larisch. By some accounts, it is a significant, potentially destabilizing, hire.
Then, just days later, the firm faced a two-team exit in London: a six-strong alternative investments team, led by partner Alex Martin, walked to Milbank; then, even more devastatingly, a few days later a five-partner team led by rainmaking partner Jayanthi Sadanandan and Sam Hamilton, left for Sidley Austin.
Sadanandan’s exit in particular might have had the firm's leaders "panicking", as one source told me. Indeed, earlier this year, Sadanandan was cited by multiple sources as one of a select few corporate lawyers in London with ‘designation’ power, exerting an outsized influence on the most lucrative debt finance mandates in London—a ‘kingmaker’.
Once she leaves, the firm will have a heck of a time convincing the market that it’s business as usual...
