Profile Facts: Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance profile.

Clifford Chance LLP

Headquarters	10 Upper Bank Street London, United Kingdom
No. of offices	29 in 20 countries
No. of attorneys	3,600
Major practice areas	General practice
Revenue	£1.197 billion.
Date founded	1987
Company Type	Limited liability partnership
Website	cliffordchance.com

The Clifford Chance LLP is a global law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom and a member of the 'Magic Circle' of leading UK law firms. It is one of the largest law firms in the world, both by number of lawyers and revenue. In 2009/10 it achieved total revenues of £1.197 billion and profits per equity partner of £933,000. As of April 2009, it employed approximately 3,600 legal advisers and 3,200 business services staff across 29 offices in 20 countries.

David Childs has been Managing Partner since 2006.

History

Clifford Chance's London headquarters at 10 Upper Bank Street - the building on the right

Clifford Chance's origins in London date back to firms started in 1802. It was the merger of London firms Clifford Turner and Coward Chance in 1987 which formed the firm as it is today. Neither were first-rank law firms, but the merger has since been said to have changed the shape and profile of law firms in London and across the world. Over the next decade, the firm built its practices across Europe and Asia, more than doubling in size. Recognising the importance of a US-law capability, the firm established its New York practice in 1986. In 1992 it became the first major non-US firm to practise US law.

In 1999, Clifford Chance merged with the Frankfurt-based Pünder, Volhard, Weber & Axster, and also with the 1871-established US firm Rogers & Wells (the use of the Pünder, Volhard, Weber & Axster and Rogers & Wells branding for their respective European and United States regional offices was discontinued in 2003). In 2002, Clifford Chance launched in California, setting up a branch with nearly 50 attorneys from the disbanding dot-com firm Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison in Los Angeles, Palo Alto, San Diego and San Francisco. With California's downturn, the firm closed its Pacific Coast operations in 2007.

In 2002, the firm was ranked last in associate satisfaction in the annual associate survey by The American Lawyer. Several associates on the firm's personnel committee drafted a memorandum outlining their complaints, which was circulated on the internet. Peter Cornell, Managing Partner at the time, relocated to New York to address many of the associates' concerns. Clifford Chance was noted as the most improved firm in the next year's survey. Since then, the firm has continued to improve in the annual associate survey and in 2007 was ranked #29.

Because of falling revenues during the recent global recession, Clifford Chance laid off around 130 salaried lawyers and 115 business services staff, and in 2009 reduced the number of partners by around 15%. It has 29 offices spread across 20 countries in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The firm is increasingly moving back office tasks to its 240-employee Knowledge Center in New Delhi, India as an efficiency measure.

Main practice areas

The firm's main areas of practice are in banking and finance, capital markets, corporate law, real estate and litigation. Chambers and Partners lists Clifford Chance as a leading firm in over 30 different practice areas around the world. Some of the practice areas where the firm is ranked "top tier" include

Banking & Finance (in Belgium, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom)

Capital markets (in Germany, Italy, Singapore and United Kingdom)

Dispute Resolution (Litigation) (in China, Russia, the Middle East and United Kingdom)

European Competition and Regulation / Antitrust (in France, Spain and the United Kingdom)

Private Equity (in Germany, Spain and United Kingdom)

Projects (in Germany, United Kingdom and globally)

Real Estate (in France, Germany, Poland, Spain and United Kingdom)

Tax (globally and in Europe)

Notable recent cases tried

Re HIH Casualty and General Insurance Ltd and other companies; McMahon and others v McGrath and another [2008] UKHL 21 - an important decision regarding the extent to which the English courts will enforce the decision of foreign liquidators

R (on the application of the Countryside Alliance and others) v Attorney General and others [2007] UKHL 52 - concerning whether fox hunting breached the European Convention on Human Rights and/or rights under EC law, and the balance between these rights and public policy considerations

Indofood International Finance Ltd v. JP Morgan Chase Bank NA (2006) 8 ITLR 653 (CA) - a significant case concerning the interpretation of double taxation conventions

Secretary of State for the Home Department v JJ and others [2007] UKHL 45 - concerning the legality of control orders made in respect of terrorist suspects

Attorneys from Clifford Chance helped prepared the habeas corpus petitions in Khalid, et al. v. Bush and Omar Deghayes v. George W. Bush, for detainees held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.

The firm has also represented a number of high profile clients, which include JP Morgan, ABN Amro, Barclays and BNP Paribas.

This section requires expansion.

Awards and rankings

In the 2009 edition of Chambers Global, Clifford Chance has 15 tier one rankings in the global tables and 53 tier one rankings in the overall cross-border rankings, in each case more than any other firm. It is ranked 4th in the 2010 Vault Law 50 UK prestige rankings and 29th in the 2011 Vault Law 100 U.S. prestige rankings.