CMS and DLA Piper stand atop Law.com International’s inaugural EU Top 30, which ranks the biggest law firms in the European Union by headcount.
Starting this year, the annual list ranks law firms by their EU headcounts, established with Law.com Compass data collected in June 2024 and tweaked based on updates that most of the firms provided. The headcounts include qualified attorneys, associates, counsel and partners for international and local firms operating across the 27 EU member states.
CMS reported 2,869 lawyers across the EU–1,119 more than its closest rival in the table, DLA Piper, with 1,750.
Hogan Lovells came in at No. 3, with 1,659, ahead of No. 4 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, with 1,314, and Madrid-based Garrigues at No. 5 with 1,273, the only local firm to make the top 10.
CMS, a Swiss verein-like corporate organization of 21 independent firms, mainly in Europe, doubled its size through a three-way merger in 2017. In August this year the firm reported global revenues up 5.1% to $2.1 billion. CMS Luxembourg added a four-lawyer litigation and arbitration team from Benelux firm NautaDutilh in June and a partner-led, five-lawyer corporate team from Deloitte Legal in Poland in March.
Duncan Weston, CMS executive partner, told Law.com International the firm has offices in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia but “The bulk of our legal capabilities is in Europe,” which he described as a “strong but steady market.”
The firm has close to 6,000 lawyers overall, as many 4,000 of those based in Europe, including the U.K. The firm has “virtually full coverage in central and eastern Europe and in western Europe,” a “massive” office in Warsaw and offices throughout Germany and recently grew in Scandinavia.
A planned update to its seven-year-old strategic plan in 2025 could see the firm grow to between 5,000 and 10,000 lawyers across all of Europe in the next five years, Weston said.
The firm focuses on expanding practices serving growth industries including tech, media and telecommunications, renewable energy, and financial services. It wants to grow its corporate, financial services and litigation practices and is open to mergers, particularly in Germany and in Denmark and Finland. It may also grow in the EU through cooperation with large Asian firms looking to expand here, Weston said.
Freshfields led the big London firms in the Top 30, with 1,314, ahead of Linklaters’ 1,254, A&O Shearman, with 1,201, and Clifford Chance with 1,147. Slaughter and May didn’t make the table.
A&O Shearman, No. 8 in the EU Top 30, is the product of a May 1 combination of London-based Allen & Overy and New York-based Shearman & Sterling. The tie-up created a nearly 4,000 lawyer firm transatlantic firm whose global managing partner is based in Paris.
A&O Shearman Luxembourg managing partner Patrick Mischo said via email that the firm’s global clients see the EU as a “strategically important region, with bar-setting regulation and an ambitious agenda for the future.” With its single market the EU is full of opportunities, but also challenges because “from a legal perspective it remains fragmented,” he said.
A&O Shearman’s co-managing partner in Spain, Ignacio Ruiz-Camara said the firm has very strong teams across the EU region and has grown significantly in recent years, particularly in France and Germany. “As the landscape continues to change, we remain focused on aligning our growth with areas where we can make the greatest impact for our clients.”
Two Swiss-Verein global firms top U.S.-headquartered firms in the table, with Baker McKenzie at 1,266 EU attorneys and Dentons at 1,066. White & Case, 861, Latham & Watkins, 443, and Norton Rose Fulbright has 421. Greenberg Traurig, McDermott Will & Emery, Kirkland & Ellis and Cleary Gottlieb were among U.S. firms that didn’t make the top 30.
The rankings show the dominance of international law firms across Continental Europe, with 17 of the largest 30 firms hailing from the U.K. or the U.S. and 13 being led from one of Europe’s major economies: Germany, Spain, France, Italy and the Netherlands.
In slight contrast to rankings of the largest firms operating in the U.K., U.S.-based law firms do not feature strongly in the table. Eight firms that have more lawyers in the U.S. than in any other single country made the EU ranking, while 11 U.S.-led firms feature in the U.K. table.
Some of Europe’s most prestigious firms, such as Hengeler Mueller in Germany, Bredin Prat in France and De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek in The Netherlands, were too small to make the list.
At No. 5, Madrid-headquartered Garrigues was the highest-ranked Europe-based firm in the latest rankings, with 1,273 attorneys across four EU countries, as of September 2024. Another Iberian firm Cuatrecasas came in at No. 13, with 1,002.
“As the largest EU-based law firm, the EU is a natural and essential market to us,” a Garrigues spokesperson said via email. Garrigues’s EU offices include 18 in Spain, two in Portugal, and offices in Warsaw and Brussels.
“The EU market is mature, and while we still see growth potential in the markets where we operate, for the time being we do not plan to significantly increase our headcount nor to open offices in new EU countries,” the spokesperson said. In July, Garrigues, which had 1,392 total lawyers in the latest Global 200, announced plans to merge with Mexico’s Sánchez Devanny to add to its Latin America presence.