US firm's London arm expects to report profit after a year in the City

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Hedges' London office is expecting to record a profit little more than a year after formally launching in the City.

The London office is set to post a net profit when it reports its results for the 2009 calendar year – despite only launching properly in October 2008.

It is understood the litigation boutique has been operating profitably since the beginning of 2009, with all fee earners billing around 2,000 hours each over the last 12 months.

The London office, which is headed by former Kirkland & Ellis partner Richard East (pictured), now stands at 10 fee earners, including three partners.

Since the launch was announced in April 2008, Quinn Emanuel has brought in Sue Prevezer QC from Bingham McCutchen and Marc Becker from Munger Tolles & Olson as partners. The firm is set to make further senior appointments in the New Year and is in negotiations to secure extra space in its Old Bailey office.

The office has formed referral links with a number of City firms reluctant to litigate against major banking clients, with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Clifford Chance and US firms such as Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom among those referring work.

High-profile cases since the launch include advising bondholder committees on both the Wind Hellas and Cattles restructurings, acting for ad-hoc bondholders on the Woolworths administration and serving as conflicts counsel to the official Lehman Brothers creditors committee.

Meanwhile, Prevezer appeared in the High Court with Jonathan Sumption QC acting for HSH Nordbank on its $275m (£166m) claim against UBS and appeared in the House of Lords this year on behalf of a group of investment funds following the collapse of the $27bn (£16.3bn) structured investment vehicle Sigma Finance.

East told Legal Week: "We have exceeded expectations having found an attractive niche doing cases that no other firm has the expertise or indeed can do, because of conflicts."