‘Thoughtful about where and how we grow’ – Latham sets out stall for City litigation push

Whereas its London transactional credentials are plain, it’s truthful to say that Latham & Watkins has to not date boasted a equally heavy-duty repute on the contentious entrance.

Nevertheless, the agency is doubling down on its efforts to shift this notion, with a collection of current eye-catching hires pointing to a renewed push within the capital, because the US large continues its efforts to dig right into a market nonetheless largely dominated by UK heritage corporations.

Earlier this 12 months, the disputes apply noticed a major shift with the departures of Oliver Browne and Stuart Alford KC to Paul Hastings.

Browne had spent 18 years at agency, co-leading the London litigation and trial division for the previous six, most not too long ago alongside Oliver Middleton, whereas fellow former co-head Alford had been on the agency since 2016, after becoming a member of from the Critical Fraud Workplace (SFO).

Whereas the duo had championed formidable enlargement plans for the US agency’s London litigation apply throughout their time on the helm, these ambitions stay firmly in place.

Now below the management of Middleton, the London litigation and trial division is constant its progress trajectory. The crew’s headcount now stands at nearly 70, together with 19 companions – up from seven companions and 24 associates in 2017.

Talking to Authorized Enterprise, Middleton and white collar specialist Pamela Reddy (pictured prime), who joined from Norton Rose Fulbright in the beginning of the 12 months, are clear that litigation progress is a strategic precedence for the agency, which is concentrating on a mixture of lateral hires and natural progress.

As Middleton (pictured) underlines: ‘We’re centered on attracting prime expertise that enhances our agency’s progress, success, and tradition.’

Alongside Reddy, different key appointments lately have included former Orrick accomplice James Lloyd, who joined in October 2021 to deal with litigation and investigations referring to cybersecurity and privateness, and final 12 months’s rent of Linklaters accomplice Simon Pritchard, who has introduced substantial credentials on the competitors litigation entrance.

The agency has considerably bolstered its Metropolis white-collar credentials with the rent of Reddy, who Middleton notes has ‘hit the bottom working.’ Her current work has included advising a consortium in a multijurisdictional SFO investigation, in addition to securing the dismissal of a legal probe in opposition to a distinguished delivery firm by the Insolvency Service.

Wanting forward, Reddy anticipates a ‘important uptick’  in company crime investigations pushed by forthcoming failure-to-prevent fraud offences below laws such because the Bribery Act and the Felony Funds Act, on condition that ‘the failure-to-prevent fraud offence is extremely broad, masking something below the Fraud Act.’

Competitors litigation is a key progress space for Latham, constructing on final 12 months’s addition of Pritchard, who joined after 15 years at Linklaters and Allen & Overy, earlier than which he spent 5 years as senior director on the Workplace of Honest Buying and selling.

As Middleton highlights, the rising complexity of competitors litigation performs to Latham’s strengths in managing large-scale litigation. ‘Dealing with large-scale litigation is simply as essential as having particular competitors expertise,’ he explains. ‘We excel on this space with our intensive crew of litigators who’re adept at managing huge class motion instances and different large-scale litigations.’

On the defence aspect, Middleton and London deputy managing accomplice Andrea Monks are main groups from the agency representing Barclays in two high-profile instances: one involving allegations of deceptive statements about its buying and selling system and one other associated to overseas alternate market manipulation.

The agency can also be aiming to push into different key areas comparable to shareholder claims, in addition to disputes referring to information privateness, AI, ESG, and crypto.

On the information entrance, Ian Felstead, vice chair of the agency ‘s complicated business litigation apply, has suggested Meta on contentious issues regarding information transfers from the EU, whereas within the ESG realm, London disputes accomplice Samuel Pape was not too long ago a part of a crew which secured victory for the Republic of Colombia on the World Financial institution’s Worldwide Centre for Settlement of Funding Disputes, defending the Colombian authorities’s ban on mining within the delicate páramos ecosystem within the Andes.

Whereas enlargement of the broader disputes providing is a transparent strategic precedence for Latham, Middleton argues the agency doesn’t wish to ‘pursue progress for progress’s sake’.

‘Because the agency continues to increase, we’ll develop organically, specializing in key areas comparable to information privateness, ESG, and sophisticated business disputes,’ he explains. ‘We wish to be considerate about the place and the way we develop.’

Alongside these exterior hires, the agency’s contentious bench in London has additionally seen a wholesome diploma of natural progress, with 4 accomplice promotions prior to now two years – a rise on earlier years, after none from 2016 to 2019, and only one in each 2020 and 2021 – Middleton and litigator and arbitrator Robert Worth.

New names becoming a member of the partnership since 2021 embrace Pape, white collar specialist Clare Nida, competitors accomplice Gregory Bonné, and Nell Perks, who focuses on disputes and contentious regulatory investigations.

Wanting forward, Middleton says the expansion technique could have an emphasis on the size of Latham’s worldwide platform: ‘There’s a lot to be gained from having breadth of expertise. It’s vital for us that our folks have particular experience that we are able to successfully market. Nevertheless, our major energy lies in our versatile litigators who excel at dealing with large-scale litigation and successfully collaborate throughout the worldwide platform. Our method units Latham aside from opponents.’

Anna.huntley@legalease.co.uk