How Clifford Chance broke into New York's private equity elite

For years, the conventional wisdom in the legal market was that the biggest US private equity deals would remain firmly in the hands of Wall Street's elite firms with deep relationships dating back decades.

Clifford Chance is making the case that those assumptions no longer apply.

This year, Clifford Chance became the first firm headquartered outside the US to earn a place in Chambers' New York private equity buyouts rankings, rubbing shoulders with the market’s most established names including Kirkland, Simpson Thacher and Latham.

Bloomberg's legal adviser tables tell a similar story. In the first half of 2026, Clifford Chance placed in the top 10 globally and in the US for private equity deals by value, making it the only UK-headquartered firm to do so.

Rankings are just one measure of success, of course. Beyond A&O Shearman's merger-led expansion, Freshfields remains among the UK's leading firms in the US by both revenue and headcount.

Clifford Chance has also endured a talent raid by Sidley, including some notable partner departures from its US practice this year. Even so, the rankings underline how far the firm's private equity business has come in the world's most competitive legal market.

We spoke with two of Clifford Chance’s practice leaders to find out how the firm pulled it off.

A global opportunity

Neil Barlow, a private equity partner helping lead the firm's US expansion, says the answer lies in how the private equity industry itself has evolved.

"It comes down to the strength of our global platform that has been built very carefully over decades," he says. "You have to be consistently strong across the main financial hubs in the US domestically, but also across the pond in Europe and APAC."

Sponsors, he argues, no longer think of themselves as US or European investors. The largest are “behemoths that transact globally” deploying capital across multiple jurisdictions and an increasingly diverse range of asset classes.

That shift has changed what clients want from their lawyers.

A decade ago, having strong M&A execution and leveraged finance capabilities was enough to compete for many sponsor mandates. Today, Barlow explains, execution is table stakes.

“Gone are the days when private equity clients viewed their lawyers primarily as execution specialists,” he says. "The execution is taken for granted if you're a global elite law firm. It's then about the people, the depth and the sector specialism."

That means deeply understanding industries rather than simply getting a deal done.

It's very rare to see transactions that are single-country deals...that has played to our strengths.

As private capital has expanded into infrastructure, energy, defence, healthcare, sports, entertainment and technology, law firms have had to mirror that evolution.

"We're doing a huge amount for sponsors in sports, media and entertainment," says Barlow. "You need people that understand the industry from a business perspective, but also from a regulatory perspective. The same is true in healthcare, energy, defence, aerospace."

Many top US firms boast heavyweight New York and London practices, but Clifford Chance highlights that today's private equity clients increasingly need advisers who can also execute seamlessly across continental Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

"Our success follows the success of our clients," says Spencer Baylin, the firm's London head of private equity. "They work with us across London, Europe, MENA, APAC and the US, and see the same high level of quality and connectedness."

"It's very rare to see transactions that are single-country deals," he adds. "That has played to our strengths."

Building the practice

In the past year Clifford Chance has advised on headline mandates including KKR's acquisition of a stake in Harley-Davidson and PIMCO’s investment in Meta’s $27 billion data centre project in Louisiana.

It has more than doubled its number of private equity partners in the US since the end of 2023, hiring from firms including Kirkland & Ellis, White & Case and Fried Frank.

Baylin says the recruitment strategy is not about buying portable client relationships.

"The two things that are critical to us are the quality of the lawyer and their cultural fit."

"If you have the right people on the team and a collective, laser-focus on clients, then the direction of travel is clear."

The emphasis, he says, is on building an integrated team rather than a collection of individual rainmakers.

"We operate as a team. We don't operate on individual books of business. It's really about client success and team success."

A collaborative model is also proving attractive to recruits, according to Barlow.

"They are not coming to a single office," he says. "They are coming to a global platform."

Prospective US recruits are also introduced to colleagues across London, APAC, Europe and the Middle East before joining.

The firm's Houston office - which opened in 2023 - also reflects the changing nature of sponsor work.

Rather than focusing solely on traditional buyouts, Houston has become an important base for energy and infrastructure investment as private capital firms continue expanding their multi-asset strategies.

"The majority of the global private equity sponsors have become multi-asset class managers," says Barlow. "Energy and infrastructure is one big pillar of that."

For Clifford Chance, Houston therefore sits alongside New York, Washington and its international offices as part of the same offering rather than as a standalone energy practice.

The next challenge

Despite the recent recognitions, the partners insist their attention remains firmly on their clients.

"I only pay attention to clients…hopefully the rankings follow," Baylin says.

Barlow agrees, describing the firm's recent performance in the league tables as "simply a validation of the fact that the clients are placing their trust in us for their top mandates."

I only pay attention to clients…the rankings follow.

The next test will be whether Clifford Chance can convert the recent momentum into a permanent position among the US private equity elite. The firm still has ground to make up against some rivals in the US, and the competition for talent and mandates remains fierce.

But if the firm is right about where private equity is heading, it may simply have arrived earlier than most of its rivals.