Magic Circle (law firms)

The Magic Circle is an informal term describing the five most prestigious London-headquartered multinational law firms, which generally outperform the rest of the London law firms on profitability. The term has also been used to describe the most prestigious barristers' chambers in London. All of the 'Magic Circle' law firms and barristers' chambers specialise primarily in Commercial law.

For other uses, see Magic Circle (disambiguation).

The group of law firms comprises Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters, and Slaughter and May.[1]

Etymology and definition

The term Magic Circle was coined by legal reporters in the 1990s[2] and includes the following five law firms per most commentators: Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters and Slaughter and May.[1]

History and evolution
Allen & Overy, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters are headquartered in the City of London. Slaughter & May's headquarters lie just outside the boundary of the City, in the Borough of Islington.

The Magic Circle firms have headquarters in London but offices around the world.

The Magic Circle firms are pioneer in franchising out English law, setting up franchises in non-Anglophone countries.

Clifford Chance is headquartered in Canary Wharf.

The Magic Circle has been termed a "journalistic device, coined by legal reporters in the wake of the break-up of its predecessor, the ‘club of nine'.".[2] The "club of nine" was an informal group of law firms that comprised Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith (now Herbert Smith Freehills), Linklaters, Lovells (now Hogan Lovells), Norton Rose (now Norton Rose Fulbright), Slaughter and May and Stephenson Harwood.[2] The members of the "club of nine" had an informal "no-poaching" agreement and the firm's senior partners would meet.[2]

In 1996, Stephenson Harwood was asked to leave the ‘club of nine’ due to its stagnant performance. The "club of nine" was disbanded in 2000.[2]

The Magic Circle, contrary to the "club of nine", is no informal grouping of law firms. Initially, the Magic Circle's membership was described by commentators as comprising the UK firms with strong corporate practices or international work. At the time, these firms were Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters, and Slaughter and May.[2] Generally, the Magic Circle firms have among the highest earnings per-partner and earnings per-lawyer of UK-headquartered law firms.[3]

In 2004, Slaughter and May's then senior partner, Tim Clark, said: "It's a funny concept. I don't know where the term came from or who founded it. It's mainly something that comes up when we talk to journalists or they talk to us. We don't describe ourselves as a Magic Circle firm in any of our marketing material."[2] Linklaters' then head of corporate, David Cheyne, said: "City law firms years ago used to provide information to each other so they could keep in touch with what was going on, but that ended yonks ago... It seems to be a term to describe the leading City firms and there is some truth in it."[2] Then corporate partner at Herbert Smith Freehills and former investment banker Henry Raine said: "The phrase was coined by a legal magazine and referred to firms which were very strong in corporate or international work. At the time, Herbert Smith was languishing in the corporate stakes, and so was consigned to the outer darkness."[2]

In 2013, The Lawyer argued that Clifford Chance and Slaughter & May should no longer form part of the Magic Circle. It argued that Clifford Chance’s profitability does not match the other Magic Circle firms, and Slaughter & May operates a different (UK-focused) model and its revenue is less than half of the other Magic Circle firms.[4][5]

As of 2017 The Lawyer magazine no longer considers Slaughter and May to form part of the Magic Circle due to its lower revenues and UK domestic focus.[1] In 2017, The Lawyer magazine stated that "Slaughters fits the silver circle bill in every respect. London-centric, sky-high PEP, top-tier work, an aura of prestige: Slaughter and May is far more like Macfarlanes than the Magic Circle quartet it is commonly lumped in with. To put it in the same category as Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters would be inaccurate, and to say it is in a class of its own is frankly showing the firm too much deference."[6][7] Other commentators still consider Slaughter and May to be a member of the Magic Circle.[8][9][10][11]

Firms not included

Among the large firms not included in the term are Herbert Smith Freehills, Hogan Lovells, Norton Rose Fulbright and Stephenson Harwood, which are less profitable. Also, at the time the term was coined, Herbert Smith's (as it was known pre-merger) corporate practice was focused on privatisation work, which had dried up. Arguably, for this reason, it was not included in the initial Magic Circle.[2]

Relationship with the Silver Circle

The Silver Circle is an informal term for perceived elite corporate law firms headquartered in the United Kingdom that are the main competitors for the Magic Circle in the United Kingdom. The term was coined by The Lawyer magazine in 2005 in response to the pre-existing term, Magic Circle.[12] These firms have a lower turnover than the members of the Magic Circle, but consistently have an average profits per equity partner (PEP) and average revenue per lawyer (RPL) far above the UK average[13][14][15] (and, in some instances, higher than members of the Magic Circle). Contrary to what the term Silver Circle may suggest, there is no Golden Circle.[12]

Impact of globalisation and relevance of the term
See also: List of largest European law firms, List of largest United Kingdom-based law firms, and List of Hong Kong law firms by size

UK law firms, including Magic Circle law firms, have experienced increased competition from US law firms both domestically (from US law firms with a UK presence) and internationally.[16][17][18]

In 2013, The Lawyer argued that the term Magic Circle would lose its relevance, becoming "outmoded": "It will remain an easy shorthand to denote the UK-heritage firms with the biggest revenues, the most international work and which consistently outperform the rest of the [UK] market on profitability." It was argued that by 2023 global law firms will rather be split between the Global Elite law firms, International Business law firms and Super Boutique law firms.

The Global Elite law firms comprise Allen & Overy, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Clifford Chance, Davis Polk & Wardwell, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Linklaters, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Sullivan & Cromwell, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

The International Business law firms comprise Ashurst, Baker & McKenzie, DLA Piper, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hogan Lovells, Jones Day, King & Wood Mallesons, Norton Rose Fulbright, Sidley Austin, SJ Berwin, and White & Case.

The Super Boutique law firms comprise Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Debevoise & Plimpton, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, Slaughter and May, and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz .[19]

In 2014, it was reported that Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer wished to discard its Magic Circle designation in the US in favour of being part of the Global Elite.[20] Similarly, in 2014, Linklaters’ then managing partner, Simon Davies, said "The Magic Circle isn’t what it used to be in the context of the US market or any market. I don’t think it’s going to gain power or momentum and I don’t think it’s a strengthening brand in itself." and "At the end of the day we see ourselves as one of the leading global law firms, not one of the leading Magic Circle firms".[21]

Barristers' chambers

The following barristers' chambers in the United Kingdom are occasionally, by analogy, described by commentators as the Bar's Magic Circle:[22][1]

More recently, 3 Verulam Buildings has been categorised as a 'Magic Circle' chambers.[23][24]

In August 2018, research from The Lawyer, however, showed that South Square Chambers received more instructions from the Magic Circle law firms than any other chamber. Barristers from it worked on 64 matters for the Magic Circle law firms since 2015.[25]

See also

References
  1. "One Essex Court is the 'go-to' set for litigation heavyweights". 14 December 2017.
  2. "It's a kind of magic". The Law Gazette. 21 May 2004. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  3. "2018: The magic circle will be no more - The Lawyer - Legal News and Jobs - Advancing the business of law". 2 September 2013.
  4. "Is this the end of the 'Magic Circle' brand? – The Lawyer - Legal insight, benchmarking data and jobs". 2 October 2014.
  5. "UK 200: Record 11 firms join the £1m PEP club – The Lawyer - Legal insight, benchmarking data and jobs". 27 October 2016.
  6. "The silver circle". 19 September 2017.
  7. "The long read: How the silver circle shattered - Lawyers4law". lawyers4law.com.
  8. "Magic circle law firms". Chambers Student.
  9. "Magic Circle Law Firms: The Ultimate Guide". The Lawyer Portal.
  10. "The magic circle: meet the City's top commercial law firms". The Gateway.
  11. "Guest post - The Magic Circle is doomed. Here's why". Legal Business. 16 May 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  12. "The silver circle - Chambers Student Guide". Chambers Student.
  13. "Ashurst, Herbies ride out tough year; BLP, Macfarlanes, SJ Berwin succumb". The Lawyer. 14 July 2008. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  14. "Silver Circle". The Lawyer. 3 September 2007. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  15. Fletcher, Martin (28 August 2005). "'Silver circle' firms upset the legal order". The Times. London. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  16. "Can the magic circle ward off the challenge of the US firms? – The Lawyer - Legal insight, benchmarking data and jobs". 8 August 2017.
  17. "Gaining ground on the magic circle – The Lawyer - Legal insight, benchmarking data and jobs". 9 June 1999.
  18. https://www.law.com/sites/ali/2016/10/02/losing-the-magic/ Retrieved 2 January 2018
  19. The magic circle will be no more
  20. "Freshfields in the US: Don't call us magic circle – The Lawyer - Legal insight, benchmarking data and jobs". 29 September 2014.
  21. "Linklaters' Simon Davies: "The magic circle isn't what it used to be" – The Lawyer - Legal insight, benchmarking data and jobs". 28 November 2014.
  22. Bar Magic Circle, AllAboutLaw; Glossary of Law Terminology, University of Exeter; "Set Point", The Lawyer, 30 October 2000; The Modern Bar: diverse and open to all, fn 7.
  23. https://www.blacktalentcharter.com/home
  24. https://www.thelawyer.com/magdalen-colleges-bame-challenge/
  25. https://www.thelawyer.com/revealed-the-magic-circles-chambers-of-choice/
  26. Beaton Research & Consulting (2012). An obituary for the term "Big 6" law firms in Australia Archived 2012-11-07 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  27. "Elite 'red circle' firms Zhong Lun and Jun He plot merger as consolidation grips China legal market | The Lawyer | Legal News and Jobs | Advancing the business of law". www.thelawyer.com. Retrieved 2016-04-09.
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