Inside Ropes & Gray's Europe strategy: Private capital, Milan and an all-equity partnership

Ropes & Gray has been quietly rolling out one of the most ambitious European growth strategies among US firms in London. In this episode, London managing partner Rohan Massey and antitrust partner Ruchit Patel, who also sits on the firm’s governing policy committee, join the show to discuss how the firm has grown its London office from a two-partner launch in 2010 into a 250-person hub.

We talk about the firm’s push across Europe, including the recent launches in Paris and Milan, and why Ropes sees London as the centre of a broader European platform. Patel explains how the strategy is driven primarily by client demand - particularly from private capital clients - and why the firm has chosen to build a single integrated European platform rather than operate offices as separate profit centres.

The conversation also explores the competitive dynamics of the London market, where US firms have dramatically expanded over the past decade. Massey and Patel discuss how Ropes thinks about talent, lateral hiring and institutionalising client relationships, including why the firm emphasises collaboration across offices and practice groups.

Finally, we get into one of the firm’s more unusual strategic choices: sticking with a single-tier, all-equity partnership while much of the legal industry moves towards multi-tier structures.

Chapters

00:01 Introduction
01:44 The origins and growth of Ropes & Gray’s London office
04:31 The rise of US law firms in London
05:43 Ropes & Gray’s European private capital strategy
09:57 Paris and Milan: the firm’s newest growth engines
11:30 Why Ropes believes collaboration is its competitive edge
14:45 Talent, lateral hiring and building the partnership
17:47 Institutionalising client relationships across the firm
20:08 Why Ropes is sticking with a single-tier equity partnership