Watch out Magic Circle – the Firm’s ambition to rise to the top in the London market shows no signs of slowing. The Reporter Quarterly talked to Executive Committee Member Oliver Brettle to find out more.

Since we highlighted London as one of two key offices for strategic growth, it’s been a relentless story of achievement. While our focus is on our global results, London’s contribution has been impressive. From a starting point of around $250 million in revenues in 2014, we’ve grown this to about $328 million in 2017, an increase of $78 million.

Such growth has been driven by an influx of talent, as the Firm has gone from 76 partners to 105 partners in around three years.

En route, we overtook Latham as the largest non-UK firm by revenue and we now rank among the top 15 London firms overall. And we’re far from finished.

In fact, it’s the start of a new chapter in London with the appointment of Melissa Butler as Office Executive Partner this May. She replaces outgoing OEP Oliver Brettle, who will now focus fully on his ongoing roles on the Executive Committee, the EMEA Operations Council and leading the London Growth Team.

Oliver is tasked with driving forward strategic global initiatives that support execution of our 2020 strategy and strengthen our competitive market position, especially in relation to the Magic Circle, which is something he’s no stranger to from his time as London OEP.

Oliver explains: “You only have to look at the kind of clients we’re acting for here in the Magic Circle’s own backyard to appreciate what we’ve already achieved here. And there is much more to come.

“What’s brilliant is that we’ve retained our entrepreneurial spirit and still feel like a challenger firm here in London. We’re not content with defending our market position. We are here to grow, to be ambitious and to be the best. That means confidently going toe-to-toe with the Magic Circle.”

The Firm is making inroads towards this ambition and Oliver points to our success in Equity Capital Markets as proof of our status as a top firm in the market. 

Recent examples include the Firm’s work on Avast’s £3 billion IPO, while our work on Alfa Financial Software’s £800 million IPO has been widely touted as a breakthrough deal.

Such success stories helped elevate the London office to the top of Bloomberg’s league table for IPOs in EMEA during 2017.

“Last year was a very strong year in terms of both revenue and profitability,” says Oliver, “but for headcount it’s never been about growth for growth’s sake. We’ve always stressed in London the importance of growth that builds and contributes to the strength of the broader firm.”

Growth in London is of course central to our 2020 strategy, but the vision goes far further.

Oliver says: “Our initial goal is to be a leader in the London market by 2020, with more than 500 lawyers, strong in all the practice areas we choose to focus on, with institutionalised client relationships, carrying out complex cross-border work and offering a genuine alternative to the Magic Circle. And, if we identify any gaps in our offering or talent that might hamper this aspiration, we’ll be proactive in filling them.

“Looking further forward, I think the strength of our London office, combined with our strong presence in the US and in many of the world’s largest legal markets, will give us an edge that will continue to benefit the Firm moving forward, whatever challenges we face.”

One upcoming challenge that the London office knows all about is Brexit.

Oliver confirms: “I think most people are tired of hearing me and my colleagues talk about Brexit, but there is no denying it is a big cloud on the horizon for any organization with a London presence which seeks to be outward looking.

“While it seems that the results of the Brexit vote haven’t yet had a dramatic impact on market stability, it remains to be seen what the long-term consequences will be for London as a global financial centre.

“What we can say with confidence is that, because of our global strategy set over many years, we have strong practices right across the EU that are not dependent on the UK or our London office. This gives us a natural hedge when compared with some competitors who may operate on more of a hub and spoke basis.”

Uncertainty over Brexit certainly hasn’t hampered the London office’s upward momentum – something that’s not been lost on our clients.

Oliver says: “When it comes to client satisfaction you only have to look at the Nacala Corridor project, Wind Tre, the Kenya Airways restructuring, MMG/Glencore High Court litigation or the recent panel wins with FTSE companies, Smiths Group and Johnson Matthey, or other great work we’re delivering across all practices.

“I think what people see is a successful firm committed to London with an open and entrepreneurial culture that clients love. People like the drive and they like the ambition of the whole team here.”

Talking of talent, Oliver is particularly proud of the progress the London office has made to instil a strong collaborative culture, where people feel able to give their best.

He says: “The office here is very different from when I first joined the Firm back in 2001, but despite all the growth and changes, we’ve managed to retain an entrepreneurial, fun atmosphere.

“While we continue to add some really important lateral hires, our growth has also been built on internal partner growth. Of the seven partners we announced in 2017, three started as trainees, while in 2018 it was four of the eight promoted.”

One secret to our success in this area is the strength of our trainee program and graduate resourcing, and the way our partners put a consistent focus on supporting and developing talent and a positive culture.

This culture has also been embedded through the introduction of regular employee engagement surveys that aim to address employee concerns and spread best practice. The office also has an elected employee committee, which meets regularly with Oliver or (from now onwards) Melissa Butler.

Oliver says: “We’re seeing the benefits of this not only internally but also externally, where we’re one of the few law firms in The Guardian’s list of top employers and have gone up The Times list of top graduate employers.

“Engagement is absolutely vital to the Firm, because we want to be the law firm of choice for people who are talented, collaborative, globally minded, energetic and entrepreneurial.”

The London team is also taking steps to ensure it has an office environment to match this ambition, as evidenced through a recent remodelling of the restaurant area and meeting spaces at 5 Old Broad Street plus some improvements to the practice floors across the office and more space in 10 Old Broad Street.

Oliver explains: “The restaurant is unrecognizable from its previous incarnation and really is a fantastic space now. It looks great.

“We’re modernizing the meeting rooms as well. All this improvement work has been done in collaboration with people across the team; we used the alterations as another opportunity to engage with our people.”

Oliver is also looking forward to hosting the next Global Partners’ Meeting in 2020, which promises to have special significance given that it is in London and coincides with the final year of our 2020 strategy.

He says: “We’re naturally really excited to be welcoming everyone to London but, as for the details, I’ve been told the key to success is not to give too much away so watch this space.”

Melissa Butler, London OEP

“I look forward to taking the London team one step further as we go toe-to-toe – or even nose-to-nose – with the Magic Circle”
MELISSA BUTLER, LONDON OEP

Melissa joined the Firm’s Capital Markets practice in 2006 and has built up extensive experience representing public and private issuers and underwriters in offerings in and outside the US. She has a strong track record advising on sovereign mandates, with a particular focus on Africa. She has significant experience handling major debt and equity offerings in often volatile and challenging markets. Her work advising Nexii on the drafting of a suite of template documents for social entrepreneurs to use when applying to list debt and equity offerings on the iX, the world’s first publicly regulated social stock exchange board, earned the Firm the Innovation Award at the 2012 Thomson Reuters Foundation Trust Law Awards.

Melissa has worked closely with Oliver for a number of years in her capacity as Admin Partner for London and she knows better than anyone the challenges and opportunities facing the London team. Melissa says: “I am grateful to Oliver for the robust yet empathetic way in which he has led our office for the past 10 years. Oliver has brought our legal practices and Business Services functions together into one powerful team that is now competing with the very best in the market. I look forward to taking the London team one step further as we go toe-to-toe – or even nose-to-nose – with the Magic Circle.”

Look out for Melissa’s interview in a future Reporter Quarterly.