Law UK Magazine

Katten Muchin Rosenman has made a double partner hire in London in the past week, strengthening its newly launched structured products and derivatives practice with the vertical hire of Crowell & Moring senior counsel Charles Wakiwaka, following the arrival of fintech specialist Charlotte Hill from Winston Taylor. Wakiwaka’s arrival follows that of Jennifer Kafcas and Alvino van Schalkwyk, both from Crowell & Moring, last month.

Listed firm Knights has published its full results for the 2026 financial year, with revenues surpassing £200m, driven by a mix of acquisitions and “strong organic growth”. The headline data shows a 28% increase in revenues from £162m to £207.7m, while profit before tax was up 19% to £33.2m from £28m.

Ashurst Perkins Coie, which went live as $2.8bn merged entity this week, has announced its first post-merger lateral hire in the UK, recruiting real estate disputes specialist Sophie Schultz from Stephenson Harwood. Schultz, who trained and spent more than 12 years at Allen & Overy, became a partner at Stephenson Harwood in 2017.

Wedlake Bell has continued its lateral hiring spree in the City with the addition of two new disputes partners. Dan Dodman joins from RWK Goodman, where he was co-head of the civil fraud practice, alongside fellow partner Ellie Spencer, who was co-head of the civil fraud practice at RWK Goodman.

Simmons & Simmons has posted double-digit growth across the board for the 2025/26 financial year with revenue up 12% from £615m to £690m, alongside a 14% uptick in profit from £215m to £245m, at a margin of 36%. Profit per equity partner was up 11% to £1.25m from £1.13m. This compares well to revenue, profit and PEP growth of 7%, 6% and 5% respectively for 2024/25.

Mayer Brown hosted the launch of the sixth cohort of the Green Tech Legal Collaborative (GTLC) last week, bringing together climate-tech founders, legal advisers, compliance specialists and experts from Imperial Enterprise Lab at the firm’s London office.

In partnership with Macrae. Private funds and PE M&A partner hiring has remained active across London and New York over the past five years – but the dynamics shaping each market tell very different stories. London funds movement reached a five-year high in 2025, while New York has held consistently robust.

The UK legal market is an ever-evolving one, affected by both trends that have been unfolding over a number of years as well as by the rise of new ones. This month, data on the largest corporate law firms operating in the UK were published and some of the findings were truly remarkable: whilst 10 or so years ago the ranking was – predictably – dominated by UK firms, US firms have grown at a much faster rate in London over the last decade and have now taken up several of the top 10 slots.

Addleshaw Goddard has posted record financial performance for the 2025/26 financial year, with total revenue up 17% from £551m to £644m, matched by a 17% uptick in distributable profits from £224m to £262m, a margin of 41%.

In partnership with Aramas Family Law I am an international family lawyer, and a wills and probate specialist practising in both the UK and the UAE. Founding Aramas Family Law was a natural step for me after many years of advising clients on complex cross-border matters. I often work with families who have connections to more than one country and they need clear, practical advice that takes into account different legal systems, cultures, and personal circumstances.