Another Premier League transfer window has closed and once again records have been smashed. Premier League clubs have splashed out more than £3bn including the big-money deadline day move of Alexander Isak from Newcastle to Liverpool for a British record of £125m. Liverpool have spent a staggering £415m - a European football record - to strength its title winning squad. All this record spending got me thinking about what’s been happening in the lawyers’ transfer market this year.
As we approach the final quarter of 2025 and looking back, there is no doubt money has been spent on some big moves, but what have the trends shown? Has it been all about growth and recruitment?
London comings and goings
Last year the talk was all about Paul Weiss’s assault on London and again we’ve had headline grabbing, big ticket hires at Sullivan and Cromwell including former Weil partner, Mike Francies, coming out of retirement and at Shoosmiths who has appointed DLA’s former boss, Simon Levine, as a strategic board adviser. But away from the headlines, what else has been going on?
According to Atlas, by Codex, the Legal market’s answer to Opta, there have been 11,821 UK legal moves since the beginning of the year – almost half of which (5,432) have been in London.
Of those 5,432, A&O Shearman has seen the most departures (96) including an 11 strong structured finance team to Latham & Watkins in June 2025; with only 15 joining A&O over the same period.
Fellow Magic Circle firms, Linklaters, Clifford Chance and Slaughter and May also feature in the top 10 with 68, 45 and 45 departures respectively; with only 21, 31 and 10 lawyers joining. Completing the set, Freshfields recruited 23 and saw 65 leave.
In fact, a closer look at Atlas’ stats suggests that only 25% of the top 100 recruiting law firms and other legal employers (including those outside London) have made a net gain in qualified lawyers this year.
Now clearly, some of the 2,281 lawyers Atlas classes as “unattached” will be between jobs; so that stat cannot be treated as gospel, but in what continues to be a fairly flat recruitment market, it does make this commentator wonder what’s going on?
Who is recruiting?
A closer look at the 25% of employers who did see a net gain in solicitor headcount so far this year paints an interest picture.
The real eyecatcher is Lawhive Legal who added 71 lawyers this year (net gain 64), bringing the firm’s total number of lawyers to 351; not bad for a business that was only founded in 2021! Lawhive’s aim is to address the lack of affordable and accessible legal services in the UK and has developed an AI-powered platform to do so, combining an online network of UK solicitors with technology to automate administrative legal tasks, reduce costs for consumers and make legal help more convenient and accessible. Having originally secured, £9.5m ($11.9 million) in funding from Google Ventures and Episode 1 Ventures in early 2024; at the end of last year, the firm secured a whopping $37.9m in a series A financing to assist with its plans to expand in the US. And, just announced, they have just acquired a UK law firm in an industry first. Watch this space.
So, what of the remaining 24 employers that have seen net gains? Well, arguably reflecting current market trends, we have some obvious winners in this tight recruitment market.
1. “Platform/fee-sharing/Alternative-Legal-Service-provider” firms
- Setfords (54 – net gain 26)
- Keystone (35 – n.g 17)
- Gunnercooke (32 – n.g 11) N.B Altas has Gunnercooke’s hires at 32 while the article below suggests as much as 77
The draw of the fee-sharing firms continues unabated as evidenced by Gunnercooke’s recent announcement of 3 new offices in London, Frankfurt and Chicago, and 2 upsized offices in Manchester and Leeds
2. In-house/Public Sector
- CPS (43 – n.g 27)
- GLD (25 – n.g 10)
- Barclays (24 – n.g 15)
In-house definitely continues to drain talent from private practice with more than 20% (1168 of 5558) of NQ to 8 pqe lawyers opting for in-house peaking at over 30% at 6 pqe (158 of 520).
3. US Firms
- Paul Weiss (25 – n.g 13)
- Proskauer Rose (17 – n.g 7)
- Davis Polk (17 – n.g 14)
- Greenberg Taurig (16 – n.g 2)
The US dollar’s pulling power saw 27% of Magic Circle leavers opt for a US law firm with less than 3% opting for another Magic Circle firm.
4. Private Equity
- Fletchers (33 – n.g 3) The PE back injury specialist acquired Scott Rees at the beginning of the year to swell its number by almost 100 fee-earners including 8 solicitors
- Horwich Farrelly (18 – n.g 3) Following recent investment from CBPE Capital, the national insurance firm, now known as “HF” has made partner hires from the likes of Clyde & Co, DAC Beachcroft, HFW, Stephenson Harwood and Weightmans.
5. Mergers & Acquisitions
- TLT (56 - n.g 8) Any departures from TLT were more than offset by the addition of a team of, reportedly, 29 “ future energy, infrastructure, public law and planning …..lawyers, including eight partners and 21 associates….. who join from Broadfield (formerly BDB Pitmans), ….bring[ing] the total number of lawyers specialising in these practice areas at TLT to more than 150”
- Ward Hadaway (42 – n.g 8) The Newcastle headquartered firm’s ambition was highlighted by its move into the Birmingham market (it’s first office outside the North) through the hire of a team from Shakespeare Martineau together with its merger with The Endeavour Partnership in Stockton-on-Tees
- Thorntons (25 – n.g 11) The Scottish firm merged with 5 partner, Perth firm, Mcnabs, at the beginning of the year adding 12 lawyers to its headcount
- Lawrence Stephens (23 – n.g. 8) Definitely one to watch, this 111 lawyer firm, was the beneficiary of a 10 lawyer team from the demise of Memery Crystal and has shown year on year growth adding 10, 9 and 13 to its headcount through years 2022 to 2024.
- Fladgate (23 – n.g 13) Another beneficiary of Memery Crystal’s demise, Fladgate picked up 9 partners across real estate disputes, real estate, banking and corporate; once again underlining the firm’s growth ambitions.
6. And the rest…
The remaining firms to make a net gain in lawyer numbers so far this year:
- HCR Hewitsons (38 – n.g 16)
- Bevan Brittan (31 – n.g 12)
- Charles Russell Speechlys (25 - n.g 6)
- Penningtons Manches Cooper (22 – n.g 2)
- Lewis Silkin (18 – n.g 11)
- RWK Goodman (18 – n.g. 8)
- Edwin Coe (16 – n.g 10)
- Michelmores (14 – n.g 6)
Now, at a push, I could group them as upper mid-market firms, in the top 100, but outside the top 40, (Charles Russell Speechlys being the outlier) who place great importance on firm culture; but it feels like I’m rather clutching at straws to find a common thread.
HCR Hewitsons, Penningtons Manches Cooper and RWK Goodman have all grown through a series of mergers and have all managed very successfully to integrate those businesses. Lewis Silkin has built a business with employment and creative industries at its heart. Bevan Brittan knows what it’s good at, Michelmores is consistently ranked by Roll on Friday as one of the best firms to work for and Edwin Coe quietly goes about its business at the same address since 1971.
Maybe it’s as simple as good management and having a clear game plan. Not everyone is going to have the buying power of a Liverpool or a Paul Weiss but as evidenced by Nottingham Forest, Brighton and Bournemouth, you can still be competitive through shrewd recruitment, good management and a collective purpose.
Any clear trends?
When I set out to look at the lawyers moves in 2025, I wasn’t sure what to expect or what my conclusion would be.
There is clearly still plenty of investment in recruitment. According to Atlas, Addleshaw Goddard, who currently top the tree, had made a staggering 88 hires by the end of August including 51 in London and they have recently announced the appointment of experienced lawtech leader, Chris Tart-Roberts, to add to partner hires from the likes of McDermott Will & Emery, Kirkland & Ellis and Milbank Tweed.
And every week there are headlines announcing partners hires, but what’s happening in the engine room; at 0-8 pqe?
I’m sure some law firms are possibly recalibrating their gearing, reducing their perm headcount to maximise utilisation, tapping into a larger interim pool and taking advantage of what tech and AI has to offer. But at what cost?
Is the drive to increase efficiencies, turnover AND profit while accommodating salary increases sustainable, and what impact is it having on retention?
According to Atlas, US firms have hired 326 lawyers from UK firms in London this year; 1268 private practice lawyers have moved in-house and 350 have moved to a “Platform Firm”.
In an increasingly competitive legal services market, building a business and a brand that enables you to attract and retain the best talent is key. Liverpool FC may have spent £145m on recruitment but at the other end of Merseyside, Hill Dickinson’s sponsorship of Everton’s new stadium, for purportedly c. £10m a year, is the sort of bold leadership decision I hope pays dividends.
Iain Millard is a private practice legal recruiter with over 20 years’ experience in the Chadwick Nott London team.
Email: iainmillard@chadwicknott.co.uk
Phone: 0203 096 4547
