We’re coming to the end of probably the most successful year in the Firm’s history. In 2017 we’ve achieved the very rare double of increasing our profitability while continuing to grow rapidly – no mean feat.

Both globally and in the United States, we’ve been making good progress towards our strategic goals and advancing towards our vision of being the world’s first truly global firm.

My personal focus is around achieving growth in the United States, but this isn’t just about the United States, our ambition is global.

Growth in the United States isn’t an easy task, even for a firm that’s been in the market for more than 100 years because, while we have a long heritage in New York, we’ve never actually grown as quickly and substantially in the United States over such a short period of time as we are doing now.

Bridging the gap

The thinking behind our goal to grow in the United States is easy to explain. While we had 600 US-based lawyers in 2015, many of our competitors were much larger, some more than three times our size.

In addition, our clients and partners (both in the United States and across the world), told us we needed to improve our profile in the United States, with a broader scope and greater strength.

That sort of feedback really focused our minds. It told us that maybe we needed to reach much higher and think far bigger in the United States than we had in the past.

Since then we’ve expanded to 800 lawyers, which is great progress, but we still have some way to go to fulfill our ambitious five year plan to 2020 – one that means we need to grow faster and more significantly than any other firm in the United States.

“Make no mistake, we are still entirely focused on being a globally integrated firm but to achieve this goal, we need to be bigger and stronger in the United States as well.”

Among our achievements so far, we’ve opened our office in Boston and are looking to grow in northern California, while significantly expanding our teams in Washington, D.C (now the Firm’s third biggest office) and New York.

In all cases, this isn’t about simply bolting on practices or partners. We are looking for people who have a reason to be here, who want to integrate with the Firm as a whole, both across the United States and with our offices around the world.

The bigger picture

Keeping this ‘big picture’ perspective is vital because any growth we are making in the United States needs to be viewed in a global context.

Make no mistake, we are still entirely focused on being a globally integrated firm but to achieve this goal, we need to be bigger and stronger in the United States as well.

The fact is that boundaries are blurring. There are very few matters that are just US matters anymore so, even if we’re working on a deal where a US company is buying another US company, both those companies are likely to have assets and regulatory issues all around the world.

I’ve been at White & Case since 1984 and when I joined we had seven offices globally (two in the United States) and about 300 lawyers, so we’ve grown significantly. But during that period the vast majority of our growth has still been outside the United States.

Along the way we’ve built a world class operation in Central and Eastern Europe, we’ve built the best Paris office of any firm, and we’ve built other great offices around the world.

Driving towards our vision

We’re not turning back from this vision of a global firm, but we need to achieve a better balance and appreciate that many of our competitors have 70-80% of their lawyers in their home market.

While we want our mix to be far more global, the percentage of lawyers in our dual home markets of London and the United States in 2015 was low at 48%, so we concluded that it needed to be more like 60% of our total lawyers.

To achieve that over a five-year period obviously requires significant focus and growth in those markets, but if you look at the bigger picture it’s clear that our priorities are far from being ‘all about the United States and London’.

For instance, we recently opened in Australia (where we now have more than 50 lawyers), opened in Egypt, expanded in Stockholm and added another partner in Milan, and we will continue to do that wherever there is a strategic need, so we can realize our global ‘one-firm’ vision.

Strategy takes shape

When I reflect on the journey we’ve been on and how much we’ve evolved, it gives me a lot of pride. I can honestly say that the Firm is as strong and as well positioned as it ever has been.

But what excites me most is that we’re still ambitious, and we recognize we still have a way to go, coupled with a real hunger to get it done.

“When I reflect on the journey we’ve been on and how much we’ve evolved, it gives me a lot of pride.”

The pieces are coming together and, perhaps most impressively of all, we’re achieving the rare double of growing while building our profitability.

We are poised to achieve the most successful year in our history and you can’t underestimate how important that is when it comes to getting the attention of people we are recruiting, people who will contribute to our future success and growth. We’re also progressing towards our goal of making White & Case a great place to work and that helps attract and keep the right talent too.

Of course we still have a long way to go, but I’m excited to see that the stars are aligning and, if we continue on the course we’ve set ourselves, I’m confident we’ll get to where we want to be.