Ropes & Gray
About
Ropes & Gray
Ropes & Gray is a Boston-founded US law firm whose modern London story is built around private capital.
The firm traces its roots to 1865, when Harvard graduates John Codman Ropes and John Chipman Gray set up practice in Boston. It has since grown into a global firm with more than 1,500 lawyers across 16 offices.
London is now one of the largest offices in the network and the hub of Ropes’ EMEA business. The firm opened in the City in 2010 and has deliberately built a broad private capital platform spanning buyouts, funds, leveraged finance, restructuring, antitrust, tax and regulation. Ropes itself describes London as its EMEA hub and says the office serves private capital clients across the full investment lifecycle.
That focus puts Ropes in direct competition with the US firms that have reshaped the top end of the London market. It is not trying to be everything to everyone: the centre of gravity is sponsor-side work and asset management, with particularly strong supporting practices in finance, life sciences and regulatory matters.
The firm has also been expanding its European footprint. Paris opened in 2025, followed by Milan later that year, joining London and Dublin in an increasingly integrated European platform. In 2026 it continued to hire into that strategy, including a French private equity and M&A team from Latham, as well as senior life sciences regulatory partner Alison Dennis from newly-merged Winston Taylor in London.
Financially, Ropes remains one of the most profitable firms in Big Law. Revenue reached $3.7 billion in 2025, up 9.4% on the previous year. Its reported 2025 PEP jumped to $7 million, according to figures published by The American Lawyer.
Recent work highlights
Recent deal and industry highlights for Ropes & Gray in the UK market include:
EQT / Coller Capital: Ropes advised EQT on its acquisition of Coller Capital, one of the best-known names in private equity secondaries. London partner Shona Ha was part of the team, with the firm presenting the mandate as evidence of its growing role on sophisticated European private capital deals.
€2bn Wireless Logic continuation vehicle: Ropes advised Partners Group on its co-lead investment in a €2 billion single-asset continuation vehicle for UK-headquartered Wireless Logic, managed by Montagu. The deal was described by the firm as the largest European continuation vehicle completed in 2025 and was led by London asset management partners Tom Alabaster and Chris Townsend.
€24bn Altice France restructuring: A London-led Ropes team advised Altice France and its holding company on a cross-border restructuring involving more than €24 billion of debt. The transaction eliminated more than €8 billion of funded debt and became a flagship mandate for the firm’s expanding European restructuring and liability management practice.
Recent coverage
What is Ropes & Gray known for?
Ropes & Gray is a full service US corporate law firm. In London, Ropes is known for its leveraged finance, funds and private equity work. They also handle a notable number of deals in the life sciences sector.
Private Equity
The firm’s sponsor-side offering is highly rated in the City, with a Band 4 Chambers ranking for the highest-value buyouts. Its rapidly-expanding European platform is built on private capital work.
Capital Markets
Ropes & Gray is ranked in Chambers’ Band 3 for high-yield, an important source of debt financing for leveraged buyouts.
Leveraged Finance
Ropes is ranked Band 3 for big-ticket leveraged financing deals, and can regularly be found advising borrowers and PE sponsors on various acquisition finance and unitranche mandates.
Funds
Another key workstream at Ropes’ London office is private equity funds - both primary and secondary. The London team is ranked by Chambers in Band 4 for both practices.
Financial performance
In 2025, Ropes & Gray's revenue was $3.7 billion, according to The American Lawyer.
Its profit per equity partner (PEP) was $4.24 million, according to The American Lawyer.
London salaries
Here’s what Ropes & Gray pays its London trainees and newly qualified (NQ) lawyers:
Who does Ropes & Gray compete with?
Ropes is an elite US law firm with strong practices in leveraged finance, private capital, life sciences transactions and more. In London, it competes with other elite US and Magic Circle firms focused on those areas:
Trainee information
Other things to know
Euro summer: Ropes has been rapidly expanding its footprint across Europe, raiding other top firms for teams in its newly-launched offices in Paris and Milan as it sets its sights on capturing European private capital work.
AI push: The firm has been investing heavily in AI and appointed its first chief of AI strategy in 2025. It has also introduced a European “trailblazer” programme allowing trainees and first-year associates to spend up to 20% of their billable time experimenting with AI tools.
Single-tier partnership: One of the last major US firms standing on the frontier of single tier equity-only partnership, Ropes is one of the few elite US players which hasn't introduced a salaried partnership tier.
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