Martin Davies, Head of Litigation at Olswang, is joining US litigation boutique Quinn Emanuel in the New Year. He follows his fellow partner Alex Gerbi, who was touted by Olswang as its hotshot litigation star until he buggered off to QE back in May.
Litigation is a big deal at Olswang. As Mark Devereux, the firm's Senior Partner, told RollOnFriday, it now has "over 100 litigation lawyers generating over a third of our revenues". So losing two top partners is clearly a kick in the nuts. But will the firm suffer a ruptured testicle or just loosen its pants and crack on? With the exception of a slight dip in profits there don't appear to be any signs of wider malaise at the firm, and comments from staff in RollOnFriday's Firm of the Year survey have been pretty effusive.
So this seems simply to be a move for cold, hard cash - Quinn Emanuel has just filed its accounts for 2009, which reveal that its highest earning London partner made £1.5million.* Although Davies inevitably waxed lyrical on the "exciting opportunity", "new challenge" etc.
The news was first revealed by RollOnFriday yesterday after a spokesperson for QE's London office inadvertently confirmed it. Oops.
*Although Croesan riches comes with the sacrifice of having to deal with the legendary ego of founding partner John Quinn. His Twitter bio reads "Founder & Managing Partner at Quinn Emanuel, largest biz litigation firm in the world. GC @ AMPAS. Ironman tri-athlete, Shakespeare enthusiast, father of 5." Nice...
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Litigation is a big deal at Olswang. As Mark Devereux, the firm's Senior Partner, told RollOnFriday, it now has "over 100 litigation lawyers generating over a third of our revenues". So losing two top partners is clearly a kick in the nuts. But will the firm suffer a ruptured testicle or just loosen its pants and crack on? With the exception of a slight dip in profits there don't appear to be any signs of wider malaise at the firm, and comments from staff in RollOnFriday's Firm of the Year survey have been pretty effusive.
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A kick in the nuts yesterday |
So this seems simply to be a move for cold, hard cash - Quinn Emanuel has just filed its accounts for 2009, which reveal that its highest earning London partner made £1.5million.* Although Davies inevitably waxed lyrical on the "exciting opportunity", "new challenge" etc.
The news was first revealed by RollOnFriday yesterday after a spokesperson for QE's London office inadvertently confirmed it. Oops.
*Although Croesan riches comes with the sacrifice of having to deal with the legendary ego of founding partner John Quinn. His Twitter bio reads "Founder & Managing Partner at Quinn Emanuel, largest biz litigation firm in the world. GC @ AMPAS. Ironman tri-athlete, Shakespeare enthusiast, father of 5." Nice...