Steady as she goes for Debevoise in the City… but less slow than you'd think

There is still something of a frisson – a sense of the unusual – about seeing the name Debevoise & Plimpton attached to a notable London appointment. The firm's recruitment last month of Travers Smith's David Innes was no exception.

The reason is obvious. Despite a pukka Wall Street brand – backed by average partner profits currently in the $1.9m (£1.22m) region – for the last decade the firm has been content to haul in a strong but unflashy UK partner hire as pretty much a once-a-year event.

And the appointment of Innes (pictured), a seasoned operator in Travers' much-fancied buyout team, fits perfectly in the Debevoise mould, ushering in a user-friendly professional with a strong practice fit.

Without relying too heavily on Innes' relationship with buyout house Bridgepoint Capital, Debevoise is understandably confident that he will be provided with plenty of work from key US clients such as Clayton Dubilier & Rice and Providence Equity Partners. Given that the upper tiers of the US buyout community appear to have weathered the downturn better than their European counterparts, there would seem to be plenty of scope for Debevoise to expand its corporate practice in the UK.

But there is obviously more to Debevoise than just a classy buyout brand. Despite its low-key approach, the firm's London revenues now account for just over 10% of its firmwide revenue, which leaves it closing in on the £50m mark (not to be sniffed at for a firm with just 18 UK-based partners).

Over the years the firm has built up an enviable stable of London-based operators, among them Lord Goldsmith QC (litigation), Jeremy Hill (corporate insurance), Peter Hockless (leveraged finance), Guy Lewin-Smith (corporate) and Richard Ward (tax).

Outside of private equity, the client base of the firm's London office tilts heavily towards global corporates over UK-centred clients, with major names the firm has worked for in the City including Mitsui, Polyus Gold, AIG and Axa.

London managing partner James Scoville says that the firm remains intent on keeping its City focus firmly on its traditional strengths in insurance, financial services and private equity. But presumably there must be some consideration of whether to expand Debevoise's strong white-collar crime/investigation business further into the City in this Bribery Act-obsessed age (the firm's European reputation in this field already received a huge boost after its two-year anti-corruption investigation for Siemens).

But while few doubt that Debevoise has ample scope to build its business, rivals argue that its New York HQ remains ambivalent about UK expansion. One partner describes it as a "vast body of silent apathy". Indeed, for some, Debevoise's international strategy sits awkwardly between the unabashedly US-centric worldview of a Cravath Swaine and the focused global sorties of a Skadden Arps.

As one partner with a rival practice comments: "Debevoise is a classy place, but don't expect them to push the boundaries when it comes to private equity."

One test of whether Debevoise is ready to go a little bit more native as it expands in the UK will be how much interest it shows in the kind of clients Innes handled while at Travers, which included names like Bridgepoint and 3i. Still, the smart money would seem to be on Debevoise continuing to glide by profitably under the radar.