Trowers & Hamlins (London)
Our view...
Trowers & Hamlins was traditionally a rather genteel, laces and braces outfit with ancient offices in the Temple and a reputation for real estate, housing and public sector work. Its relatively small private client department seemed to be funded almost entirely by a handful of wealthy Middle Eastern sheiks, and it’s recently leveraged on this to make a big effort to get more out of the region and up its corporate game.
Corporate and Real Estate (which still includes lots of housing and public sector - not very sexy but clearly a big niche for the firm) form the lion’s share of T&H’s work: some 80% of its practice. And the Middle East is where it’s at. The firm recently advised Qtel on a successful multi-billion dollar mobile licence award in lraq and has advised Cable & Wireless plc on the completion of the sale of its 20% stake in Bahrain Telecommunications Company for $506m. It advised on the $2 billion Bahrain Bay Development, does a huge amount of transport work in the region and has a great deal of experience in Islamic finance. The firm’s private client team may still be small, but it’s also still successful in feeding the corporate dept.
Turnover is on the march - up to a healthy £68 million in 2007. Other upsides include excellent promotion prospects and what’s widely considered to be a genuine commitment to work life balance: in our 2007 Firm Of The Year survey T&H came second only to Travers Smith for how well staff thought they were treated.
On the downside, some ten years ago the firm moved to an unlovely and largely unloved modern block on a traffic island by Tower Bridge. Although some floors have been refurbished the prevailing view is that they’re still pretty grotty - despite the views of the Tower of London - with the loos coming in for particular criticism.
Equity partners all make pretty much the same - around £500k a year - which is unusually egalitarian for a City firm. But you're unlikely be one of them. 47 of T&H’s 90 UK partners are salaried, so whilst the firm made up 15 associates in 2007 (nearly twice as many as in 2006) it’s not as impressive as it looks.
Pay is lower than at many mid-sized City firms, but then with the easy hours not many people are complaining. Although associates claim that the firm’s lawyers are some of the most unattractive in the City...
The firm's focus may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if it’s yours then T&H seems like an obvious choice. As one lawyer says, “in comparison to everyone I was at law school with, I am the only one who still enjoys being a lawyer”.
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