US firm Ropes & Gray is expanding its European footprint, opening offices in Paris and Milan as it positions London as the hub of its regional platform.
The firm says its single global profit pool and all-equity partnership model helps drive cross-office collaboration as it follows private capital clients investing across Europe.
Ropes & Gray is doubling down on Europe, with London at the centre of its strategy.
During a “record year” for the US firm’s London operation in 2025 - despite a number of private equity-focused partners exiting to rivals - the firm expanded its continental footprint, opening offices in Paris and Milan in response to growing private capital investment across the region.
“We want to be in the places that our clients ask us to be,” says Ruchit Patel, an antitrust partner in the firm’s London office and a member of its governing policy committee.
Speaking on The Non-Billable Podcast, Patel and London managing partner Rohan Massey described how Ropes built London into the hub of a broader European platform.
When the firm opened in the City in 2010 - a relative latecomer compared to most US peers - the office had just two partners. Today it has grown into a 250-person operation.
London at the centre
The firm’s European push represents the next phase of that growth. Paris launched last year, followed by Milan, two markets where private capital activity has picked up sharply in recent years.
For Patel, the strategy is straightforward: follow the clients.
“Our expansion into Europe reflects exactly that,” he says. “They want us to be in those markets and therefore it’s important for us.”
Massey and Patel say the firm’s real differentiator lies in how its platform is set up. Unlike many international firms, Ropes runs a single global profit pool and an all-equity partnership rather than treating offices as separate financial units or maintaining a large tier of non-equity partners.
“We have a single equity partnership and a single P&L,” Patel says. That structure, he argues, encourages lawyers across offices to collaborate rather than compete internally.
A different partnership model
For Massey, that collaborative approach shapes everything from client relationships to deal teams.
“We’re always looking for the right people, the right team to be advising the client,” he says. “There is a driver for all of us to act in the best interests of the partnership and our clients.”
The philosophy also extends to how the firm manages clients internally.
“We don’t have origination credit. We don’t have people saying ‘this is my client’,” Massey says. “Every client we have is a client of this firm.”
Early signs suggest the strategy is working. Patel says the new European offices are off to a faster start than he expected, with Milan already generating strong deal flow.
“It’s beyond my wildest expectations,” he says.
And with capital continuing to flow into the region, the firm sees Europe as a major opportunity.
“We’re quite good at following the money,” Patel says.
Listen to the full conversation with Rohan and Ruchit on The Non-Billable Podcast.
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