Greenberg's City arm has assembled a team at lightning pace - can it build a business?

Given the initial scepticism that greeted the flashy launch of Greenberg Traurig Maher (GTM), the first thing that must be acknowledged is that the firm has defied critics to build a large practice at an astonishing pace.

With 27 lateral partner hires joining since its launch was announced in June 2009, the firm has made more hires in the last 18 months than all other US firms have managed in the last five years bar Reed Smith. US firms have often promised this kind of aggressive growth but rarely, if ever, has it been delivered.

Led by former Mayer Brown heavyweight Paul Maher (pictured), the firm has turned everywhere from White & Case and Kirkland & Ellis to DLA Piper to build a largely transactional presence in practices including corporate, construction, restructuring and capital markets, not to mention competition and intellectual property.

So far the office has retained every partner it has hired (though the real test on this front will be over the next two years). But impressive as the firm's growth is, the challenge it currently faces - and a far greater one - will be to bind the practice into a strong business. On this front, the omens still look mixed.

Revenue numbers are not yet available but GTM is currently generating around 70% of its work in London, with the remainder coming from other Greenberg offices - better than the 60:40 ratio Maher would have expected at this point. Clients include Smiths Group, Rentokil Initial, Bristol Water, AkzoNobel, Macquarie and InterContinental Hotels Group - a solid roster that fits with Maher's initial assertion that the firm would grow its client base around the chemicals, pharmaceuticals, life sciences and leisure industries.

GTM has also picked up a number of mandates which, while perhaps not headline-grabbing, are certainly significant. Recent wins include advising Justice, an acquisition vehicle sponsored by Nicolas Berggruen and Martin Franklin, on its £900m initial public offering last month, as well as acting for Bristol Water in a price-setting appeal to the Competition Commission. The firm also advised Rentokil on its £5.6m acquisition of the Services Division of Santia Group, formerly known as Connaught Compliance.

This is more than respectable for a firm that has been open for business for less than two years. And while plans for the office are now more about building out than launching new areas, the firm is clearly still appealing to lateral recruits, most recently bringing in DLA Piper construction partner Stuart Jordan.

As Maher says: "We're obviously part of a large US law firm with a lot of offices but at the same time we have a start-up mentality and aspects of our business model are attractive to people. We're entrepreneurial and we are probably more focused - some might say fixated - on the quality of our client service."

Yet still questions remain about the firm in the wider market. Despite bringing in high-profile names such as Tim Jeveons from White & Case, former Kirkland insolvency partner Lyndon Norley and Eversheds property partner Tim Webb, GTM is still viewed very much as The Paul Maher Show, with rivals claiming some new recruits are already unhappy and that the firm's business plan is unclear.

So while it has made a respectable start, the real test will be whether GTM can build on its rapidly-assembled platform and use it to start bringing in more appointments from bluechip clients and - for related reasons - whether the partnership gels well enough to hold on to its new recruits in the longer term. After all, the type of partner attracted to GTM's entrepreneurial ethos are likely to quickly turn elsewhere if they don't feel they're going somewhere fast.

 

Greenberg's City arm has assembled a team at lightning pace - can it build a business?

Given the initial scepticism that greeted the flashy launch of Greenberg Traurig Maher (GTM), the first thing that must be acknowledged is that the firm has defied critics to build a large practice at an astonishing pace.

With 27 lateral partner hires joining since its launch was announced in June 2009, the firm has made more hires in the last 18 months than all other US firms have managed in the last five years bar Reed Smith. US firms have often promised this kind of aggressive growth but rarely, if ever, has it been delivered.

Led by former Mayer Brown heavyweight Paul Maher (pictured), the firm has turned everywhere from White & Case and Kirkland & Ellis to DLA Piper to build a largely transactional presence in practices including corporate, construction, restructuring and capital markets, not to mention competition and intellectual property.

So far the office has retained every partner it has hired (though the real test on this front will be over the next two years). But impressive as the firm's growth is, the challenge it currently faces - and a far greater one - will be to bind the practice into a strong business. On this front, the omens still look mixed.

Revenue numbers are not yet available but GTM is currently generating around 70% of its work in London, with the remainder coming from other Greenberg offices - better than the 60:40 ratio Maher would have expected at this point. Clients include Smiths Group, Rentokil Initial, Bristol Water, AkzoNobel, Macquarie and InterContinental Hotels Group - a solid roster that fits with Maher's initial assertion that the firm would grow its client base around the chemicals, pharmaceuticals, life sciences and leisure industries.

GTM has also picked up a number of mandates which, while perhaps not headline-grabbing, are certainly significant. Recent wins include advising Justice, an acquisition vehicle sponsored by Nicolas Berggruen and Martin Franklin, on its £900m initial public offering last month, as well as acting for Bristol Water in a price-setting appeal to the Competition Commission. The firm also advised Rentokil on its £5.6m acquisition of the Services Division of Santia Group, formerly known as Connaught Compliance.

This is more than respectable for a firm that has been open for business for less than two years. And while plans for the office are now more about building out than launching new areas, the firm is clearly still appealing to lateral recruits, most recently bringing in DLA Piper construction partner Stuart Jordan.

As Maher says: "We're obviously part of a large US law firm with a lot of offices but at the same time we have a start-up mentality and aspects of our business model are attractive to people. We're entrepreneurial and we are probably more focused - some might say fixated - on the quality of our client service."

Yet still questions remain about the firm in the wider market. Despite bringing in high-profile names such as Tim Jeveons from White & Case, former Kirkland insolvency partner Lyndon Norley and Eversheds property partner Tim Webb, GTM is still viewed very much as The Paul Maher Show, with rivals claiming some new recruits are already unhappy and that the firm's business plan is unclear.

So while it has made a respectable start, the real test will be whether GTM can build on its rapidly-assembled platform and use it to start bringing in more appointments from bluechip clients and - for related reasons - whether the partnership gels well enough to hold on to its new recruits in the longer term. After all, the type of partner attracted to GTM's entrepreneurial ethos are likely to quickly turn elsewhere if they don't feel they're going somewhere fast.