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Slaughter and May is an international
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 clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to ...
headquartered in
Bunhill Row Bunhill Row is a street located in St Luke's, London Borough of Islington, London. The street runs north–south from Old Street to Chiswell Street. On the east side are the cemetery of Bunhill Fields and the open space of the Honourable Art ...
,
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. Founded in 1889, Slaughter and May is considered to be one of the most prestigious law firms in the world and is a member of the " Magic Circle" of elite London-headquartered law firms. In addition to London, it has offices in
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
,
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
and
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
.


History

Slaughter and May was founded on 1 January 1889 by William Capel Slaughter and William May. The firm's first office was located at 18 Austin Friars in the
City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...
. In 1974, the firm opened an office in
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
, being the first London law firm to establish a presence there. During the 1980s and 1990s, the firm acted on a number of privatisations in the United Kingdom, including those of
British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and passengers ...
, British Gas and British Steel Corporation. In 2002, Slaughter and May moved to its current London office at One Bunhill Row. Slaughter and May closed its New York office in September 2004 and its Singapore office in October 2004, instead referring its U.S. work to Wall Street firms and its Southeast Asia work to the Australian firm of
Allens Arthur Robinson Allens is an international commercial law firm that operates in the Asia-Pacific region. The firm is one of the largest in the Asia-Pacific region and has many high-profile political, judicial and corporate alumni. Operations Allens has 149 p ...
. In December 2005, Slaughter and May agreed to cede its Paris office to the French law firm Bredin Prat. In 2009, the firm opened an office in
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
, China, to focus mainly on M&A and outbound and inbound investment. In comparison to the other Magic Circle firms, Slaughter and May has a minimal overseas presence. Its international practice largely relies on relationships with local law firms in other countries, many of which themselves have minimal overseas presence, and thus do not compete with Slaughter and May. These closely associated firms have included Clayton Utz, Corrs Chambers Westgarth and Gilbert + Tobin in Australia; Bell Gully in New Zealand; BonelliErede, Bredin Prat,
De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek N.V. is a Dutch law firm headquartered in Amsterdam with branch offices in Brussels, London, Shanghai and Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and cit ...
, Hengeler Mueller and Uría Menéndez in continental Europe; Shin & Kim and Kim & Chang in South Korea; and three of the Big Four law firms in Japan.


Operations

In 2015 its partners earned the highest profit per equity partner (PEP) of any UK law firm. In 2015, the firm represented 33 clients on the FTSE 100 and 44 clients on the FTSE 250, more than any other firm at the time, including governments, entrepreneurs, funds to leading banks, retailers, entertainment companies, industrial conglomerates and professional sports clubs. In London, Hong Kong and Beijing, Slaughter and May's core practice areas are mergers and acquisitions, corporate and financing work. In Brussels, its practice areas are competition, financial regulation, data protection, as well as trade issues raised by
Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAE ...
.


Carillion collapse

In May 2018, a report by a joint inquiry of members of the UK parliament criticized the firm for billing more than £8 million for legal advice to Carillion from when its dire financial position became clear in May 2017 to its eventual collapse in January 2018. Members of parliament said that "names such as Slaughter and May, Lazard, Morgan Stanley and EY were brandished by the board as a badge of credibility. But the appearance of prominent advisers proves nothing other than the willingness of the board to throw money at a problem and the willingness of advisory firms to accept generous fees". The report added that "by the end, a whole suite of advisers, including an array of law firms, were squeezing fee income out of what remained of the company. £6.4m disappeared on the last working day alone as the directors pleaded for a taxpayer bailout". Rachel Reeves, the Labour MP who chaired the Commons business committee, said that after the accountancy firms "it was Carillion's legal advisers who took the big payouts in the company’s dying days".


Notable clients and cases

* During the 2007–2008 Financial Crisis, the firm advised
HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury), occasionally referred to as the Exchequer, or more informally the Treasury, is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for developing and executing the government's public finance policy and ec ...
with recapitalising and stabilising UK Banks. * During the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
, the firm advised
HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury), occasionally referred to as the Exchequer, or more informally the Treasury, is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for developing and executing the government's public finance policy and ec ...
on the government's emergency corporate covid financing facility (CCFF). The CCFF is intended to purchase commercial paper, a debt instrument, from companies in order to boost their liquidity. * The firm advised the now liquidated British multinational construction company Carillion on asset sales, rescue bids and restructuring. * In 2019, the firm advised Prudential plc and M&G plc on the demerger of M&G from Prudential. * The firm advised
New England Sports Ventures Fenway Sports Group Holdings, LLC (FSG), is an American multinational sports holding conglomerate who own Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox, Premier League club Liverpool F.C., and the National Hockey League's Pittsburgh Penguins. FSG wa ...
(now Fenway Sports Group) in their £300m takeover of Liverpool F.C. * The firm advised
GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc, formerly GlaxoSmithKline plc, is a British Multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with global headquarters in London, England. Established in 2000 by a Mergers and acquisitions, merger of Gl ...
on its high-profile joint venture with
Novartis Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research).name="novartis.com">https://www.novartis.com/research-development/research-loc ...
. The transaction received the 2015 Deal of the Year award by ''Financial News''.


Attorneys and alumni

* Steve Edge *
Alan Grieve Alan Thomas Grieve, (born 22 January 1928) is a lawyer, company director and chairman of the Jerwood Foundation. Alan Grieve was born in London, England. He was educated at Aldenham School and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He undertook National Servic ...
* Giles Henderson *
Simon Clarke Simon Clarke may refer to: *Simon Clarke (footballer) (born 1971), English footballer * Simon Clarke (politician) (born 1984), British Conservative MP * Simon Clarke (cyclist) (born 1986), Australian road and former track cyclist *Simon Clarke (rug ...
*
Ivo Stourton Ivo James Benedict Stourton (born 1982) is a British author and solicitor. Career Stourton first came into the public eye at the age of 17 when he wrote and starred in ''Kassandra'', an award-winning Edinburgh Festival production about the Vie ...
* Chris Jenkins * Seema Kennedy * Charles Randell * William Watson * David Green


See also

* List of largest law firms by profits per partner


References


External links


Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Slaughter And May Law firms of the United Kingdom Law firms established in 1889 Companies based in the London Borough of Islington Foreign law firms with offices in Hong Kong 1889 establishments in England British companies established in 1889