Magic Circle Firms are losing lawyers to US firms
Over the past year, the UK legal climate has experienced a lot of changes. Trying to understand trends has become increasingly difficult, but remains an important task.
The pandemic has caused many to reevaluate and recalibrate their career paths for a multitude of reasons, which perhaps might include relocation, unemployment, and work from home which has allowed individuals the time to reassess their career trajectories. This has led to a huge shift in the legal sector, from small firms to the Magic Circle. At Pirical we put evidence before guesswork, and didn't want to make assumptions on the impact of these changes on employment, so we didn’t. We looked at the data, and this is what the data said.
The most popular destination for Magic Circle firm leavers in 2020 was US law firms
It might come as a surprise that the most popular destination for Magic Circle firm leavers in 2020 was US law firms in the UK, absorbing 56.8% of leavers, while non-Magic Circle UK firms absorbed a total of 36.6%. Only 6.6% of these leavers left to join another Magic Circle firm.
Source: Pirical Legal Professionals
Linklaters and Allen & Overy have experienced the most leavers to US law firms in 2020:
We took this a step further and looked at which Magic Circle firms were losing the most to US firms, and which US law firms were gaining the most of these leavers.
Linklaters and Allen & Overy have experienced the most leavers to US firms in 2020, losing 29 and 27, respectively, to US firms. The most popular US firms to join were Kirkland & Ellis and Latham & Watkins, with some other surprising appearances by US firms with a relatively small presence in the UK, like Cahill Gordon & Reindel.
Source: Pirical Legal Professionals
Clifford Chance experienced the most leavers to UK firms
Taking a look at which Magic Circle firms lost the most lawyers to non-Magic Circle UK firms, you can see that there is a near inversion of the results compared to the US leavers results, with Linklaters losing the least lawyers to UK firms and Clifford Chance losing the most. At the top of the list of UK firms to employ Magic Circle leavers in 2020, was Ashurst.
Source: Pirical Legal Professionals
Who left Magic Circle firms to become partner?
Finally, we took a look at who left their respective Magic Circle firms to make partner elsewhere. There seems to be a slight favouring of UK law firms as destinations for new partner promotional moves. While Allen & Overy and Slaughter and May have been seemingly unaffected by these moves, Linklaters has experienced the most leavers seeking partnership at other firms, both US and UK.
Source: Pirical Legal Professionals
Final thoughts
So there you have it: in 2020, a majority of 56.8% of lawyers who left Magic Circle firms joined US firms in the UK, followed by 36.6% joining non-Magic Circle UK firms. It’s worth noticing that Linklaters and Allen & Overy experienced the most leavers to US firms, while Clifford Chance experienced the most leavers to UK firms. Kirkland & Ellis and Latham & Watkins seem to be the US firms to watch as they collect Magic Circle leavers and grow in their UK presence.
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