Linklaters LLP is a British multinational

law firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise consumer, clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and Obligation, respon ...

, headquartered in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Founded in 1838, it is one of the four ' Magic Circle' law firms known for their corporate and financial expertise. It currently employs about 3,100 lawyers in 31 offices across 21 countries. In financial year 2023-24, Linklaters reported revenues of £2.1 billion and average profits per equity partner of £1.9 million. In the UK, the firm has top-tier rankings across many practice areas, including corporate/M&A, capital markets, litigation, banking and finance, restructuring and insolvency, antitrust and tax. In 2021, Linklaters was ranked second for the number of

FTSE 100 The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is the United Kingdom's best-known stock market index of the 100 most market capitalisation, highly capitalised ...

clients. For direct deals by institutional investors in the first half of 2016, Linklaters tied for first place. In the 2021 Global Law Firm Brand Index, Linklaters was named as having the world's fourth strongest brand.

History

Linklaters was founded in London in 1838 when John Linklater entered into a partnership with Julius Dods. The firm, initially known as Dods & Linklater, developed a practice in

corporate law Corporate law (also known as company law or enterprise law) is the body of law governing the rights, relations, and conduct of persons, companies, organizations and businesses. The term refers to the legal practice of law relating to corpora ...

, including advising on the creation of the Metropolitan Water Board. On 4 May 1920, the firm, then known as Linklater & Co, merged with another renowned London firm, Paines Blythe & Huxtable, which had been founded by a descendant of

Thomas Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In ...

. For most of the twentieth century, Linklaters & Paines was predominately a domestic corporate law firm, with only a small number of overseas offices. However, in 1998, Linklaters & Alliance was created in partnership with many of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

's leading law firms, including De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, De Bandt van Hecke Lagae in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Loesch & Wolter in

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

, Lagerlöf & Leman in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

and Oppenhoff & Rädler in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Over the next five years, Linklaters & Paines merged with the last four of these Alliance firms, as well as several other European firms, in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. The firm opened new offices in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, and

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

. In 1999, amid this global expansion, the firm shortened its name to Linklaters. On 1 April 2005, after Japan enacted laws to allow certain international law firms to open offices in the country, Linklaters created Japan's first fully merged law firm practising Japanese, English and US law. Linklaters spun off its offices in Bratislava, Bucharest, Budapest and Prague into a separate firm, Kinstellar (an

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into the phrase "nag a ram"; which ...

of Linklaters) in 2007. In the aftermath of the credit crunch in 2008, Linklaters cut 270 jobs in London, consisting of around 120 lawyers and 150 other staff. This was reported to be part of managing partner Simon Davies' plan to become a smaller, more profitable organisation. By 2008, Linklaters had the highest gross revenue of any firm in the world, $2.4 billion, buoyed by work including the firm's role as advisor to

Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1850. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Merril ...

and its world number one ranking for deals by total value. On 1 May 2012, Linklaters entered into an integrated alliance with Australian law firm Allens. Allens and Linklaters operate two joint ventures in Asia: one focused on energy, resources and infrastructure services, and another on Indonesia in collaboration with domestic firm Widyawan & Partners. On 1 February 2013, the firm entered into an alliance with leading South African law firm Webber Wentzel. Linklaters also has a best-friend arrangement with Talwar Thakore & Associates, a leading Indian law firm. Furthermore, since 2017 the firm has operated in Saudi Arabia in agreement with Zamakhchary & Co. In 2018, the firm partnered with newly established Zhao Sheng Law Firm in order to practise mainland Chinese law. The joint operation currently has offices in the Shanghai Free-Trade Zone and in Beijing. In 2021, Linklaters opened an office in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, structured as a separate partnership called "Linklaters & Co", which provides advice on EU law but not Irish domestic law. Later this same year, the firm announced its goal to cut its own Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 70 percent, and its Scope 3 emissions by 50 percent, by 2030. By 2022, Linklaters had advised on more mergers and acquisitions involving Russian groups than any other major law firm. After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the firm was the first major law firm to announce it would end its business in Russia.

Offices

Linklaters was founded and remains headquartered in

. As of 2021, the firm has 30 offices across 20 countries throughout

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

and

Notable alumni

Notable alumni of the firm include:

References

External links

* * {{Magic Circle Law firms based in London 1838 establishments in England Law firms established in 1838 Foreign law firms with offices in the United States Foreign law firms with offices in Hong Kong Foreign law firms with offices in Japan Foreign law firms with offices in the Netherlands Law firms of Singapore Intellectual property law firms Biopharmaceutical law firms Multinational law firms

History

Offices

Notable alumni

See also

References

External links