Linklaters could be forced to take another look at its global lockstep structure following Latham & Watkins poaching private equity star Rainer Traugott in Germany, sources have revealed.
News surfaced on German magazine Juve Latham had hired Traugott to its Munich office on Wednesday (27 January) as its second major lateral M&A hire in a year. The firm also hired Oliver Felsenstein from Clifford Chance in May.
Traugott will fill the hole in Latham’s large-cap private equity offering thanks to his major client relationships with Siemens, Triton and Industri Kapital. Traugott is reputed for strengthening Linklaters’ relationship with Siemens, advising on the acquisition of the gas turbine business of Rolls-Royce Energy and the attempted takeover of Alstom in 2014.
The US firm has been investing significantly on expanding in the UK and Europe in recent years, increasing the number of partner promotions in the City significantly and posting global revenue up 14 per cent to $2.6bn since 2013.
Linklaters sources said the loss could force through another review of the firm’s lockstep. A vote on reviewing its lockstep to add ‘superpoints’ for star lateral partner hires in a bid to compete with high paying US firms reportedly took place late last year, though without much support for change among the partnership.
It is understood lockstep was due to be revisited again later this year following the election of a new senior partner in the spring.
The firm has already mooted introducing gates to its equity last year in a bid to flex its lockstep, following the likes of Clifford Chance and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, which have been making changes to lockstep for the last 18 months.