London partner moves hit all-time high as talent war continues

City law firm partner hiring has hit a fresh record high in the first half of 2025, as US heavyweights and UK firms accelerate moves to outpace rivals in the legal talent arms race.

There were 349 announced partner moves in the first six months of the year, according to new data from legal recruitment firm Edwards Gibson. That figure is up 30% on the same period in 2024 and 25% above the rolling five-year average.

US giants Kirkland & Ellis and White & Case led the charge, each adding 10 partners (although only around half were partnership-to-partnership laterals). Paul Weiss, the New York firm that has been aggressively scaling its London presence over the past two years, brought in seven.

Fladgate topped the rankings for lateral hires, recruiting 12 partners including a 25-strong team from collapsed firm Memery Crystal.

More moves, more churn

The boom has also coincided with heavy attrition at some firms. Ignoring Memery Crystal, A&O Shearman lost 15 partners from London in the first half alone, while White & Case saw nine departures and Paul Hastings lost seven.

The driver behind much of the movement remains US firms heavily investing into private capital-focused practices in London as they hunt for growth (see White & Case's PE-focused expansion drive for evidence of that).

'Astonishing' activity levels

Scott Gibson, director of Edwards Gibson, said the sustained pace had surprised even seasoned recruiters:

"After nearly two years of frenetic partner hiring - which should by now have started to manifest itself in at least a small dose of recruitment indigestion - we had assumed that by the end of the second quarter the market would have started to cool", Gibson said.

"What we had not expected to see was a huge acceleration in law firm partner hires trouncing last year’s first-half record. The figures are astonishing given the troubled macro-economic and geopolitical environment, not to mention the overt attacks on the rule of law - the very foundation upon which the financial success of Big Law is predicated."

With US firms posting record revenues and a wave of private capital-backed deals for UK and European assets, there’s little sign the market will cool any time soon.