City law firm Gunnercooke enters US market through launch of New York offices
City law firm Gunnercooke has made its first entry into the US market following the launch of new offices in New York City.
The launch of Gunnercooke’s new offices, at the 36-story tall 1 Rockefeller Plaza building in Manhattan, comes as the UK firm’s first venture outside of Europe, following the launch of its German offices last year.
The London headquartered law firm’s New York office will work alongside Gunnercooke’s 11 other offices, which include eight in Britain, two in Germany, and one in Hungary’s capital Budapest.
Gunnercooke co-founder Darryl Cooke: “We have always had global growth ambitions, and we feel the time is right to bring our innovative model, progressive culture and flexible way of working to the largest legal market in the world.”
The law firm’s entry into the highly competitive US market comes as the UK’s prestigious Magic Circle law firms have struggled to entrench themselves in the American market, as the plummeting value of sterling has hindered their efforts to recruit and retain top talent.
The struggles faced by UK law firms in the world’s largest market for legal services comes as the entry of higher paying US firms into the British market has pushed up salaries in London’s top firms, as they face mounting pressure to compete with US pay packets.
The pound’s falling value has also boosted the salaries of those UK lawyers who are paid in dollars for their work for US firms. The situation recently saw salaries paid out to newly-qualified (NQ) lawyers at Washington-based law firm Akin Gump jump from £164,000 to £179,000.
Gunnercooke’s New York office will be headed by ex-Cleary Gottlieb lawyer Noreen Weiss.
The New York launch comes as Gunnercooke pushes forwards with fast paced growth efforts that previously saw the firm’s revenues increase 50 per cent in 2021. The firm this year hit headlines after becoming the first UK law firm to accept payments in cryptocurrencies.