Stateside elite continue to ramp up City partner presence in push into Europe

US law firms grew their partner count in the City by close to 10% during 2011 as they continued to increase their share of the European legal market.

Legal Week's research into the hiring activity and penetration of US firms in London found total partner count at the 45 US and transatlantic firms in London taking part in the survey increased by 91 in the year to January 2012, to 1,199.

The increase, which reflects both lateral partner hires and internal partner promotions, comes against an increase in total lawyers, excluding partners, of around 100 to 2,724.

The research shows Reed Smith has the largest partnership of all of the US firms in the City at 108, followed by Mayer Brown at 96 and Baker & McKenzie at 85. White & Case has the next largest City partnership at 74, with the firm also housing the largest number of total lawyers in London, at 374.

To put the figures into perspective, the group's partnerships are now larger than several leading London firms such as Travers Smith, which has around 61 partners.

Macfarlanes senior partner Charles Martin said: "Hiring from US firms in the funds area in the City has been little short of a frenzy over the last year. We are operating in an extremely competitive market and US firms are just changing the shape of the competition."

The trend is also highlighted by expansion so far in 2012 which is not included in the research, such as Davis Polk & Wardwell's launch of an English law practice with the hire of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner Simon Witty and the London launches of Vedder Price and Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell.

Legal recruiter Siobhan Lewington from Fox Rodney Search said: "We have seen strong hiring from US firms in the City over the last year as part of their globalisation strategy and as they look to capitalise on London as an access point for European and other international growth."

However, while many US firms have been expanding rapidly in the City, it may not be quite such smooth sailing for all in 2012, with White & Case and Dewey & LeBoeuf among those set to see departures this year as part of wider global cutbacks.

Dewey is set to see departures at both partner and associate level, with White & Case expecting to see some partners go as a result of a crackdown on partner performance.