With a 13 per cent rise in its lawyer headcount last year Maples and Calder grew faster than most of its rivals and consolidated its position as easily the largest offshore firm in the world. Combined, its fiduciary and legal arms now employ 1,264 people worldwide and, after the divestment of Appleby’s and Walkers’ fiduciary businesses, Maples is more than twice the size of its nearest competitor.
Much of the growth came outside traditional offshore jurisdictions. Notably, Maples hired significantly in Dublin to bring total headcount there to 220 staff including 150 fee-earners and 109 lawyers. In Asia headcount went up from 34 lawyers in 2014 to 55 last year.
Once again the firm declined to provide details of its financial performance.
Last November Maples announced that managing partner Henry Smith was stepping down after six years. Smith was replaced by MaplesFS chairman Alasdair Robertson.
The firm also appointed Nicholas Butcher as Dublin managing partner and Richard May as British Virgin Islands managing partner, replacing Andrew Doyle and Arabella di Iorio respectively.
Unlike its peers, Maples is committed to its fiduciary business as well as its legal. The firm launched a fiduciary office in the Netherlands last year and Robertson says Maples will continue to develop its offering in key jurisdictions.
The big strategic development for Appleby last year was the management buyout of its fiduciary business. The fiduciary was bought in a deal backed by private equity house Bridgepoint and completed before the year-end, resulting in a structural overhaul for the firm. Managing partner Michael O’Connell says Appleby is now focused on a growth strategy using the capital from the MBO to “push forward our ‘client-first’ strategy in a number of areas”.
In February this year Appleby announced a revamped management structure, transferring the responsibilities held by chairman Frances Woo to the managing partner. Woo stepped down to focus on her other role as Hong Kong managing partner, while O’Connell continues to lead a refreshed management board elected for three years.
As a result of the MBO, Appleby is a slightly leaner operation, with total staff numbers of 452 compared to 513 the previous year. Lawyer numbers dropped by 13 to 210 but partner numbers remained stable, rising slightly from 59 to 60. Bermuda remains Appleby’s largest jurisdiction, employing 107 people including 38 lawyers in 2015.
Carey Olsen rises up the rankings this year after increasing lawyer headcount by 11 per cent between 2014 and 2015 – although it remains a leaner business than the firms close behind in the table, with only 0.6 non-fee-earning staff to every fee-earner.
Growth was steady across the firm, with the greatest increases in the Cayman Islands and Guernsey, where Carey Olsen added five and eight lawyers respectively.
Notably, Carey Olsen also opened in Singapore in 2015 and the firm now has five staff there, with its office headed by former Allen & Overy partner Linda Lee. It also launched a BVI litigation practice and made up three partners internally. Of those, two were women which, together with Lee’s hire, meant that female partner numbers doubled from three to six, improving the proportion of women in the partnership from an appalling 7 per cent to a slightly better 14 per cent.
Overall, the firm reported a 10 per cent increase in headcount and said its turnover had risen by 13 per cent.
There was little change in lawyer headcount at Mourant Ozannes last year. The firm added one partner and saw a net decrease of two lawyers. However, staff and fee-earner headcount rose substantially and the firm is also continuing to invest in its recently re-established corporate services business. While far from the size of the fiduciary formerly owned by legacy Mourant du Feu & Jeune, this operation now employs 39 people.
Mourant Ozannes’ power base remains in the Channel Islands. It was the second-largest firm behind Carey Olsen in both Guernsey and Jersey last year. The firm said it was continuing to build its Caribbean, London and Hong Kong practices but the major growth last year in these jurisdictions was in the number of fee-earners in Cayman. There, Mourant Ozannes added 13 fee-earners but its lawyer headcount dropped by three to 26 from 29.
As for performance, Mourant Ozannes said it had an “excellent year” with all parts of the firm “showing significant growth in revenue and contribution margin”. Turnover rose by 22 per cent, the firm said.
2015 was a busy year for Walkers. Having offloaded Walkers Management Services (WMS) in 2012, “client demand” led the firm to relaunch a small fiduciary business in the shape of Walkers Professional Services (WPS) in May 2015. The firm also announced it was to launch in Bermuda, but is yet to have any people on the ground there.
WPS is not intended to grow to the same size as WMS, which is understood to have turned over as much as $50m (£35m) before its sale to Intertrust. Instead, the business will focus on services such as company secretarial and registered office advice.
Walkers’ legal business grew last year. The firm added 22 qualified lawyers – a rise of 14 per cent – although partner headcount shrank from 66 in 2014 to 57.
Cayman remains the largest office by some margin but Walkers added substantially to its Asian presence. With 36 lawyers in Hong Kong and 11 in Singapore the firm has the biggest Asian offering of the offshore market and its Asian lawyer headcount rose by 34 per cent between 2014 and 2015.
For the first time Walkers gave an indication of its financials, saying that it had seen double-digit growth across the firm globally.
Ogier saw a contraction in its headcount in 2015, with overall staff numbers dropping from 366 to 339 – a fall of 8 per cent. Lawyer numbers dropped by the same proportion, with a reduction of 13 lawyers globally.
Nevertheless, the firm continued to boost its partnership, adding a net total of 10 non-equity partners during the year. With Ogier’s equity partnership shrinking from 26 in 2014 to 24 last year, that meant a net gain of eight partners. The firm’s partner-to-associate ratio fell from 1:2.7 to 1:1.9, putting it closer to the market average, although leverage remains high at 1:5.4.
The reduction in headcount was implemented across the firm’s offices. Jersey remains Ogier’s largest base, with 172 staff including 68 lawyers in the jurisdiction.
The headcount changes followed the management buyout of Ogier’s fiduciary arm in 2014, and the firm launched a new ‘brand identity’ last year to focus on law. Ogier has also recently appointed Jersey trusts partner Steve Meiklejohn as its global senior partner to work alongside global managing partner Nick Kershaw.
Harneys’ expansion continued last year with a 22 per cent increase in lawyer headcount, the biggest rise in the top 10. It has overtaken Conyers Dill & Pearman in the past year and, if growth continues at the same rate, is on track to overtake Ogier by the end of 2016, based on lawyer numbers.
As well as adding 25 lawyers to its roster during the year, Harneys’ partnership expanded by nine – a rise of 29 per cent compared with 2014. The firm still declines to provide equity numbers.
Like Walkers, Harneys announced a Bermuda launch last year, but unlike Walkers it was swiftly followed by realisation as the firm merged with local player Hurrion & Associates. That gave Harneys 14 staff, including seven associates and two partners, on the ground in the jurisdiction by the year-end.
Harneys’ biggest office remains the BVI, but in terms of lawyers Hong Kong is swiftly catching up. The firm said it had 33 lawyers in the city last year, just two shy of its BVI lawyer headcount.
The firm also launched a fiduciary office in Tokyo and a representative office in Shanghai last year, but managing partner Peter Tarn says “flag-planting isn’t especially interesting” and the firm is aiming for a more resilient and sustainable business model.
Although Conyers Dill & Pearman saw no change in lawyer headcount last year it did recruit at fee-earner and staff level, bringing its total headcount to 501. When the firm’s 194 fiduciary staff are added to the picture, Conyers is comfortably the second-largest firm in terms of total employees, behind Maples and Calder.
The bulk of Conyers’ staff and nearly half of its lawyers are still based in Bermuda but the firm’s Hong Kong office is sizeable. It has 79 staff members in the jurisdiction, of whom 24 are lawyers.
Conyers stands out among its top 10 peers for its diverse partnership. Almost 32 per cent of partners are female, a proportion only Harneys comes close to matching.
Conyers is confident that Bermuda’s market position remains strong and overall it plans to recruit where necessary as practice areas show growth.
The firm did not provide any indication of its turnover growth.
There were no significant developments at Gibraltar’s largest firm Hassans last year. The outfit continues to employ 250 people, including 85 lawyers. It increased partner headcount from 36 in 2014 to 40 in 2015, but the equity partnership remained static at 27.
With no change in the number of female partners, the proportion of women in the partnership dropped to 17.5 per cent.
That said, the future could hold more development. The firm said it was considering new business streams, in particular opportunities in the Far East and Latin America.
Following a static year in revenue growth in 2014, Hassans said turnover rose by 3.7 per cent last year.
Jersey-headquartered Bedell Cristin said it had consolidated “exceptional growth” from 2013/14 in 2014/15. This manifested itself in a drop in lawyer headcount of 8 per cent – or six lawyers – with partner numbers falling from 28 to 27.
The drop in lawyers came from across Bedell’s offering, resulting in no material change to its global presence. With 112 staff and 47 lawyers Jersey remains by far the firm’s largest jurisdiction and it is the fourth-largest firm on the island.
While lawyer numbers did not rise in Asia, Bedell’s fiduciary acquired a majority stake in a Singapore trust in 2015 and the firm says it plans to continue deepening its capabilities in the region.
An increase of 5 per cent in lawyer headcount, to 60 from 57 the previous year, sees Collas Crill close the gap on its Channel Islands rival Bedell Cristin.
The firm added four partners during the year, including two equity partners, resulting in a slight decrease of leverage from 1:3.8 in 2014 to 1:3.3 last year.
The most significant change at Collas Crill was its January 2015 merger with Cayman firm Charles Adams Ritchie & Duckworth, handing it 10 lawyers in the jurisdiction. The merger helped Collas Crill to a turnover rise “in excess of 10 per cent”, with particular areas of growth in Cayman litigation, Channel Islands corporate and funds work and Cayman funds work from Asia.
Collas Crill maintains an office in Singapore but its on-the-ground presence in the Asia Pacific region remains small compared to many of its competitors.
Cayman firm Campbells shoots up the rankings this year after adding 11 lawyers to its headcount between 2014 and 2015 – a rise of 44 per cent.
The addition of seven lawyers in Campbells’ Cayman headquarters means the firm is now the fourth-largest player on the island by lawyer headcount, moving ahead of Ogier and Mourant Ozannes.
A major development for the firm was the launch of a Hong Kong office led by former managing partner Ross McDonough, who has relocated to the jurisdiction. McDonough is joined in Hong Kong by two other lawyers.
Corporate head John Wolf has taken over from McDonough as firmwide managing partner, Alan Craig has replaced Wolf as head of corporate, and Guy Manning has been appointed as head of litigation, insolvency and restructuring.
Major work for Campbells last year included advising medical device company Zimmer on the Cayman aspects of its $13.4bn acquisition of Biomet.
Since the hire of Anthony Travers in 2012 Travers Thorp Alberga has continued to expand and stamp its mark on the offshore world. In 2015 the Cayman firm bolted on BVI boutique Orion Law, adding four lawyers including two partners in that jurisdiction and helping it leap up the top 30 rankings from nineteenth to twelfth. Indeed, the addition of eight lawyers in total between 2014 and 2015 means that proportionally Travers Thorp Alberga grew faster than any other offshore firm last year, with its lawyer headcount increasing by 35 per cent.
Partner numbers rose from 13 to 16 and all are equity partners. The firm continues to operate a senior-lawyer heavy model and had a partner to associate ratio of 1:1 last year, although it has increased the ratio of associates to partner in the past few years.
Travers Thorp Alberga said its revenue had gone up by an astonishing “over 100 per cent net” in 2015.
Hatstone Lawyers added two lawyers in 2015 to bring lawyer headcount to 30, maintaining its position in the rankings.
The firm continues to be geographically one of the most diverse offshore players, with lawyers present in South Africa, Panama and even Finland as well as its Channel Islands headquarters.
Hatstone said Panama was a growth area, with 11 staff in the jurisdiction last year, and South Africa was another region in which clients were showing considerable interest.
Founding partner Marcus Stone quit the firm late last year to set up Lexstone Lawyers alongside Hatstone managing associate Lucy Egerton-Vernon.
Gibraltar’s Triay & Triay increased its lawyer headcount by one last year.
Among other developments, the firm recruited three trainees after the implementation of legislation regulating the entry of young lawyers into the profession. The trainees brought the number of fee-earners at Triay & Triay to 29.
Meanwhile, the firm’s management services arm was approved as a listing member of the Gibraltar Stock Exchange, which launched at the end of 2014. The firm also advised on the admission of the first newly established exchange traded fund to the exchange in November 2015.
The addition of two lawyers for Manx firm Cains means it climbs three places up the rankings and distances itself from local rivals DQ Advocates and Simcocks in terms of size. However, Cains is still only two-thirds the size of Appleby when it comes to lawyers based in the Isle of Man, with 21 qualified lawyers practising on the island compared with 30 for Appleby.
Cains provided Manx advice to Bridgepoint on Appleby’s divestment of its fiduciary last year.
The firm said it had a strong year, with revenues up by 11.6 per cent for the 2014/15 financial year, ending on 30 June. It plans to continue investing across its business, notably in the recently established Jersey fiduciary offering and in its IT and risk and compliance teams.
Guernsey firm Babbé provided details of its headcount but nothing else for the Offshore Top 30 survey.
There was little year-on-year change for the firm, with the addition of one lawyer lifting it one place in the rankings. Babbé still has no female partners.
A drop in Guernsey lawyer headcount at Ogier means Babbé is now the third-largest firm on the island.
Forbes Hare reported largely static revenue last year but its lawyer headcount dropped by 25 per cent, from 32 to 24. The drop was entirely due to a reduction in headcount in its BVI headquarters, where lawyer numbers fell from 18 to 10.
Nevertheless, the firm expanded its geographical reach in 2015 with the launch of a Singapore office in June. BVI lawyers Sam Robertson and Michael Pringle relocated to the new office. Forbes Hare also said it had seen more work out of China and Asia last year, instead of work flowing from the CIS.
Litigation remains Forbes Hare’s key offering and one on which it focuses worldwide.
The “oldest firm on the Rock” saw a slight reduction in lawyer headcount last year, from 25 to 22.
The firm confirmed its headcount but did not provide other details of its year. Work included acting for the newly established Gibraltar Stock Exchange and listing member Grant Thornton on its first fund listing early in 2015.
Triay Stagnetto Neish did not confirm its headcount numbers this year but, based on publicly available information on the firm’s website, looks to have grown from 17 lawyers in 2014 to 21 in 2015. This has substantially closed the gap between the firm and its Gibraltar rival Isolas, which is one place ahead in the rankings with 22 lawyers.
With the addition of two lawyers, Bermuda’s Wakefield Quin had a solid year and reported a revenue rise of 2.4 per cent. The increase in headcount means the firm is now the third-largest in Bermuda, and the largest single-island firm in the jurisdiction.
Both the additional lawyers were newly qualified, one joining from a pupillage at Wakefield Quin and one from elsewhere.
There was no change in the firm’s partner headcount. Wakefield Quin operates an all-equity system.
Isle of Man firm Simcocks slips slightly down the rankings this year after a reduction of three in lawyer headcount. However, the firm’s director headcount remained steady at six, including two women.
Strategically, the firm hired Nick Woolard as practice and compliance manager last year. Woolard was previously in the role of compliance manager on a part-time basis, having joined the firm in 2014 from the Isle of Man government.
A fall in lawyer headcount at Cox Hallett Wilkinson puts it below fellow Bermudian practice Wakefield Quin in this year’s rankings.
Nevertheless, the firm had a good year with a notable highlight being its advice to insurance company Exor on its $6.9bn takeover of PartnerRe, working alongside Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison.
MJM was another Bermuda firm to see headcount dip last year, although it only lost one lawyer. Overall staff numbers shrank by five, from 55 to 50, but partner headcount held steady at six.
Cayman firm HSM enters the top 30 for the first time in 2016 after a year of rapid growth. Turnover rose by 20 per cent and the firm added three lawyers, all at associate leve
HSM was founded in October 2012 and is planning to continue expanding. Notably, it wants to develop its corporate and commercial practice area in a bid to change the market perception that it is focused on litigation.
The firm’s offering includes an IP arm, in which HSM says it is seeing an increase in direct instructions from lay clients. It also provides corporate services.
Guernsey firm AFR Advocates did not provide a figure for revenue growth, but said it had experienced a “substantial increase” in new clients and workflows in 2015. In particular, workflows for corporate and commercial and banking and finance have more than doubled since 2011.
AFR said it also expected that dispute resolution work would continue to flourish in 2016.
The firm reported no change in lawyer headcount last year, though due to the loss of one fee-earner, its total headcount fell from 36 to 35.
Despite a decrease of two in its lawyer headcount between 2014 and 2015, Manx firm DQ Advocates (formerly Dougherty Quinn) reported a 10 per cent increase in revenue last year.
The firm saw the departure of one of its founding directors, with Walter Wannenburgh appointed as the Isle of Man’s first-ever solicitor general in July last year.
Work highlights included providing Manx advice to GVC Holdings on its hard-fought £1.2bn acquisition of Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment, which completed in early 2016 after a substantial amount of negotiation in 2015.
AO Hall saw a reduction of one in its lawyer headcount last year but overall staff numbers were stable at 28 and there was no change in the size of the Guernsey firm’s partnership.
The firm says it has identified digital and financial business as a potential area for
growth, for example in fintech, and is aiming to capitalise on the arrival of such companies in Guernsey and the demand for the establishment of corporate structures to aggregate investment into such businesses.
Viberts consolidates its position in the Top 30 this year after seeing no change in its lawyer headcount between 2014 and 2015. The firm is the only single-island Jersey practice to feature this year.
BVI firm O’Neal Webster re-enters the Top 30 this year after a year’s absence. Although its lawyer headcount actually dropped from 12 to 11 between 2015 and 2014, it makes it into the rankings ahead of other 11-lawyer firms Voisin and Stuarts Walker Hersant Humphries thanks to having six partners to their five and three.
The firm had a good year financially, saying revenue was up by 25 per cent year-on-year.
O’Neal Webster maintains its one-lawyer London office, launched two years ago, making it one of 14 firms in the Top 30 to be present in the UK.