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dressing rooms of private clubs—moisturizing lotion, hair spray, mouthwash, and fragrance,
among other niceties. But what really stands out are the bottles of Molton Brown soap perched
to the right of each basin.
Fine English soap gracing the counters of a washroom in midtown Manhattan is a minor yet
telling detail. Like Molton Brown, Clifford Chance is a London-based institution that has transformed itself into an international brand—albeit one that has had a hell of a time keeping some of
its American partners in line since a messy 2000 merger with New York’s Rogers & Wells.
The war between the British and American factions is long finished, say Clifford Chance partners on both sides of the Atlantic. They add that the firm’s United States offices (in New York
and Washington, D.C.) are now thriving. “The idea and reality of Rogers & Wells are over,” says
U.S. managing partner Craig Medwick, a Rogers & Wells veteran. “Now we have the Clifford
Chance way of doing business. We have uniform expectations, a uniform selection process for
partners, and uniform training. The Clifford Chance academy is like the McDonald’s academy.”
Unity and consistency, he says, have stopped the talent drain and allowed the firm to rebuild.
And that rebuilding is based on no small part to lateral partners: Since 2006, Clifford Chance
has brought on 14 of them. (The firm now has 88 partners in the U.S.) For a firm that had lost
some its finest lawyers—among them, antitrust experts Kevin Arquit and Steven Newborn and
litigators Kenneth Gallo and James Benedict—after the merger, it’s a nice change to be on the receiving end of talent. Last fall, its Washington, D.C., office bagged a powerhouse
three-partner litigation team, headed by Juan Morillo from Sidley Austin. Other
hires include regulatory partner Thomas Pax from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman’s Washington, D.C., office; mergers and acquisitions partner John Graham
from King & Spalding’s New York office; and finance partner John Howitt from
Paul, Hastings, Janosky & Walker’s New York office.
Indeed, Clifford Chance’s U.S. operation seems to be on the rebound. Revenues in the U.S. are on the rise: for the year ended April 30, 2007, almost $320
million, compared to $265 million in 2005. Overall, this has been a banner year
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