US Firms
Every Folio briefing story that mentions Latham & Watkins, most recent first. Stories are sourced daily from a curated set of legal and business publications.
International · Tue, 28 Jul 2026
Two concurrent developments are reshaping the London legal market's talent and compensation landscape. **Gowling WLG** has raised newly qualified (NQ) solicitor salaries in its London office to **£108,000**, joining a crowded field of firms adjusting pay upwards to remain competitive in a tight lateral market. Separately, **Winston Taylor**, the firm created by the merger of Winston & Strawn and a UK counterpart, has set NQ pay at **£125,000** in London, positioning the combined firm at the upper end of the non-Magic Circle bracket. At the same time, **Freshfields** is facing departures of prominent European partners to US rivals. Leaders and business generators from the firm's Belgian and German offices have moved to **Latham & Watkins** and **Skadden** over the past eight months. Some of those partners had grown concerned that Freshfields' expensive partner hiring programme in the US, where annual partner pay can now exceed **$17 million**, is not generating commensurate revenue returns. Freshfields has tripled its US revenue to **£473 million** over the five years since its US expansion began. The two stories are connected by the same structural tension: US firms' higher pay scales are forcing all London-headquartered firms to raise compensation at every level, from NQ to partner, while simultaneously making it harder to retain the European talent that has historically funded those US ambitions. The Freshfields dynamic is particularly acute because the firm's US investment is both the cause of internal concern among European partners and a commercial imperative given the direction of the global legal market.
AI & Law · Tue, 21 Jul 2026
Elite law firms are scaling dedicated **data center practices** in response to what the industry is calling a "unique and unparalleled" **AI boom**. **Latham & Watkins** and **Kirkland & Ellis** are among the firms building depth and breadth of talent, assembling practices with hundreds of lawyers focused exclusively on **data center projects** as facilities multiply across the US and internationally. The build-out reflects surging client demand driven by hyperscale infrastructure investment tied to **generative AI** deployment. The trend sits alongside broader cross-border dynamics: UK government policy is already centred on AI computing infrastructure and semiconductor investment, and the UK-Japan Hydrogen Summit flagged the rapidly growing power demands of AI as a strategic national challenge. For law firms, data center work cuts across **real estate**, **project finance**, **energy regulation**, **environmental permitting**, and **corporate** practice groups, making it one of the few areas where a single transaction can engage an entire firm's platform.
International · Sat, 11 Jul 2026
**Latham and Watkins** has recruited two capital markets partners from **Davis Polk and Wardwell**, both known for advising on high-profile IPOs (initial public offerings) including those for **SpaceX** and **Circle Internet Group**. The move is the latest in a sustained pattern of US elite firms using lateral partner hires to build or deepen specialist practices, particularly in technology-sector capital markets. The pair bring direct experience of the most consequential equity offerings in the technology and fintech (financial technology) space. SpaceX, the private space and satellite business, and Circle, the operator of the USDC stablecoin (a digital currency pegged to the US dollar), represent two of the most closely watched potential listings in the market. From a City perspective, the hire reflects the ongoing restructuring of the transatlantic legal market. US firms operating in London have been competing for partner-level talent across practices including capital markets, leveraged finance, and international arbitration. Lateral moves at partner level reshape client relationships and deal flow, as clients often follow practitioners, making these hires competitively significant beyond the individual firms involved. For law students targeting US firms in London, the sustained investment in capital markets capability signals demand for trainees and associates with strong equity markets and tech-sector transaction experience.
Banking & Finance · Wed, 24 Jun 2026
**Morgan Stanley** has placed a cap on redemptions from one of its private credit funds after investors submitted exit requests representing **11.6%** of the fund's assets — a level that triggered the fund's built-in redemption gate (a contractual mechanism that limits how much investors can withdraw in any given period to protect the fund from being forced to sell illiquid assets at distressed prices). Private credit funds — which make loans directly to companies rather than through public bond or syndicated loan markets — have grown to approximately **$2 trillion** globally, ten times their 2009 size, with dry powder (committed but undeployed capital) at record levels of **$450–550 billion**. The asset class has attracted institutional investors seeking higher yields than investment-grade bonds, but the mismatch between the liquidity investors expect and the illiquidity of the underlying loans is now surfacing as a structural concern. The Morgan Stanley gate activation is an early stress signal in a market where European assets alone are projected to grow by **$800–900 billion** by 2028. Market participants including **Latham & Watkins**, which advises more lender mandates in the EMEA and US than any other firm according to Chambers, have highlighted that 2026 is characterised by caution, discipline and stronger underwriting standards as the market matures.
Capital Markets · Sun, 21 Jun 2026
London's traditional **Magic Circle** — **Clifford Chance**, **Freshfields**, **Linklaters**, **A&O Shearman**, and **Slaughter and May** — has been publicly recast by Law.com International, with the new 2026 grouping comprising four American firms: **Kirkland & Ellis**, **Latham & Watkins**, **Paul Weiss**, and **Simpson Thacher & Bartlett**, alongside disputes specialist **Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan**. The reclassification reflects a pay-driven divergence that has widened materially. The original five firms pay **£150,000** to newly qualified (NQ) solicitors, while the new five pay between **£170,000 and £189,000**. Quinn Emanuel, the only pure litigation firm on the new list, raised London NQ pay to **£189,000** on 4 June 2026, now paying above every other City firm at every post-qualification experience (PQE) level. That creates a **£39,000** NQ salary gap between the top and bottom of the two cohorts. For students targeting City roles, this recalibration matters because it reflects where premium transactional and disputes work is now being mandated. US firms have taken market share in high-stakes leveraged buyouts (LBOs — acquisitions financed primarily with debt), cross-border M&A, and complex litigation, where their lockstep-breaking compensation models attract senior practitioners from traditional English firms. The practical consequence is that trainees choosing between firm offers must weigh not just compensation but deal-type exposure, as the transactional diet at US firms in London skews toward large-cap private equity and finance work rather than the broader corporate generalist diet of the original Magic Circle.
Energy & Tech · Tue, 12 May 2026
Private equity firm **FH Capital** has entered a definitive agreement to acquire a **75.1%** majority stake in Jinko Solar (U.S.) Industries Inc., with **JinkoSolar** retaining a **24.9%** minority interest. The transaction covers a **2 GW** (gigawatt) solar module manufacturing facility and a growing BESS (battery energy storage system) business, with FH Capital committing expansion capital to double module capacity to at least **4 GW** and launch domestic BESS production post-close. The deal's driving logic is regulatory: under **FEOC** (Foreign Entity of Concern) rules — US provisions that restrict manufacturers with certain foreign ownership from qualifying for manufacturing tax credits — a shift to majority US ownership may allow the facility to capture the full **45X manufacturing tax credit** and the domestic content bonus, which requires an increasing percentage of US-sourced components through 2027. JinkoSolar's seven-year US manufacturing track record provides an operational foundation for the restructured entity. **Latham & Watkins** is serving as legal counsel to FH Capital. **Morgan Stanley** Asia Limited is acting as financial adviser to JinkoSolar. FH Capital is led by Managing Partner Sanjeev Chaurasia, who previously headed global solar investment banking at Credit Suisse and led JinkoSolar's US IPO in 2010. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal sits within a broader US solar manufacturing boom — US module capacity reached **72 GW** earlier in 2026 — as the industry pivots from capacity-building toward vertical integration and domestic BESS manufacturing to serve the solar-plus-storage market.
M&A · Sun, 10 May 2026
A sweeping federal indictment has charged a 30-person insider trading ring that prosecutors allege operated for a decade inside the upper echelons of **Big Law**, recruiting Ivy League-trained attorneys from firms including **Wachtell**, **Latham**, **Willkie**, **Goodwin**, **Cleary**, **Sidley**, **Weil**, and **DLA Piper**. Prosecutors describe the network as one of the most extensive M&A intelligence operations ever prosecuted on American soil, with participants allegedly treating confidential merger data as a tradeable asset rather than privileged client information. The core allegation is that lawyers with access to live M&A deal information — spanning deal structuring, due diligence, and documentation phases — fed that intelligence into a coordinated trading scheme across an extended period. The breadth of firm representation across the indictment reflects the network's reach into multiple practice groups at multiple institutions simultaneously. The case speaks directly to the fundamental duty of confidentiality that underpins attorney-client privilege and the obligations of legal professionals handling material non-public information (**MNPI**) in transactional contexts. In the UK and EU, equivalent conduct would engage the **Market Abuse Regulation (MAR)** and the criminal offence of insider dealing under the **Criminal Justice Act 1993**. The US prosecution will generate immediate compliance reviews across transactional law firms globally, with London offices of affected firms likely to face questions from the **FCA** and their own ethics committees.
Disputes · Sun, 10 May 2026
Federal prosecutors in the United States have filed a sweeping indictment against a **30-person network** of lawyers, traders and financial professionals, alleging that lawyers at eight of America's most prominent firms — including **Wachtell**, **Latham & Watkins**, **Willkie Farr**, **Goodwin Procter**, **Cleary Gottlieb**, **Sidley Austin**, **Weil Gotshal**, and **DLA Piper** — systematically monetised confidential merger intelligence over approximately a decade. Prosecutors describe it as one of the most extensive M&A intelligence-based insider trading schemes ever prosecuted on American soil. The mechanics of the alleged scheme centre on attorneys exploiting the privileged access to live deal information that their transactional roles provided — across due diligence, documentation, and signing processes — to place or facilitate trades in target company securities before public announcements. The duration of the alleged conduct, spanning roughly ten years across multiple firms, suggests a coordinated network rather than isolated opportunistic behaviour. For disputes lawyers, the case raises complex issues around the scope of attorney-client privilege in enforcement proceedings, the evidentiary treatment of documents seized from law firm servers, and potential regulatory referrals to bar associations. In the UK, analogous conduct would engage the **FCA**'s market abuse enforcement regime, the **Criminal Justice Act 1993** insider dealing offences, and the **Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)**'s professional conduct rules — all of which UK firms will now be reviewing.
International · Mon, 27 Apr 2026
**Mayer Brown** has reported **record revenue of $268 million** from its London office, marking a significant milestone for the US firm's international platform. Separately, **Latham & Watkins** is advising a **Belgian investor** on a **€500 million deal** for a traffic management business, underscoring the continued cross-border M&A appetite among European institutional buyers despite macro uncertainty. Together, the two data points illustrate the dual engines driving international law firm performance in London: organic revenue growth from deepening local practices, and high-value **cross-border transaction mandates** from continental European clients deploying capital into infrastructure-adjacent sectors. The Latham mandate is notable for its size — €500 million places it firmly in the upper tier of European mid-market deals — and for the Belgian buyer profile, reflecting sustained **Benelux outbound M&A** activity into specialist business services. For Mayer Brown, the London record adds to a broader narrative of US firms consolidating top-tier positions in the City, competing directly with the Magic Circle on transactional and finance work.
Capital Markets · Sat, 25 Apr 2026
**X-Energy**, a developer of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) and advanced nuclear fuel technology, began trading on Friday after pricing an upsized **initial public offering (IPO)** at **$1 billion** — making it one of the largest US energy-sector listings of 2026. **Latham & Watkins** advised the issuer while **Skadden** acted on the transaction, though the specific roles of each firm were not separately disclosed in the available sources. The IPO is a landmark moment for the SMR sector. SMRs — compact, factory-built nuclear reactors with capacity typically below 300 MW — have attracted significant government and private backing as a baseload-power solution compatible with net-zero energy grids. X-Energy's reactor design, the Xe-100, uses a high-temperature gas-cooled pebble-bed architecture and has been supported by the US Department of Energy's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Programme. The timing is deliberate: the Iran conflict has driven global LNG prices sharply higher and exposed the fragility of gas-dependent grids across Europe and Asia, reigniting political and investor appetite for nuclear as a firm-power alternative that is not exposed to fossil fuel supply chains. A $1 billion listing, upsized from its original target, suggests institutional demand was strong. The transaction also adds momentum to an otherwise stop-start IPO market in 2026, offering a data point that thematic energy listings can clear the market even in an uncertain macro environment.
Capital Markets · Sat, 18 Apr 2026
**Aevex Corp.**, a US drone manufacturer with defence and government contracts, began trading after raising **$320 million** in its initial public offering (IPO). The deal was steered on the issuer side by a **Kirkland & Ellis** team, with **Latham & Watkins** advising the underwriters. Aevex joins a cluster of defence-related IPOs that have come to market in 2026 as elevated military spending and renewed government contracting activity have sharpened investor appetite for listed defence and aerospace platforms. The transaction is US-listed and governed by SEC disclosure requirements rather than UK prospectus rules, but it carries direct relevance for London-market practitioners: several of the structural techniques used — particularly around lock-up arrangements, directed share programmes, and underwriter stabilisation mechanics — are increasingly standardised across transatlantic equity capital markets practice. The deal also illustrates the continued two-track pattern in global IPO activity: defence and AI-adjacent sectors commanding strong book-building momentum, while broader IPO volumes remain constrained by macro uncertainty. At **$320 million**, Aevex sits in the mid-cap IPO bracket, where investor demand has been more resilient than at the large-cap end of the market.