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LONDON, 4 November, 2026

In Person, Gatehouse, Lincoln's Inn, LONDON

09.00 – 14.00

Including continental breakfast and lunch

Lawyer Leaders from U.K., U.S., France, Germany, Spain, Portugal,

Ireland, and Switzerland

Growth, Competition, Consolidation and Scale

Global Law Firms in U.K., U.S., and Europe: 
The State of The Market 2026-2027
ORGANISED BY
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This year is the 19th Annual presentation of this unique and insightful conference for Global law firms.  This year’s theme is

U.S., U.K. and Europe are All Dynamic Markets for Talent Acquisition,  and Strong Demand for Legal Services.

Globalisation and de-globalisation continues to be an important designation for firms with world-wide reach across continents and time zones.  The world is an intriguing and treacherous place right now; yet global law firms flourish on all seven continents.  Organised in continental, regional and country specific forms, global firms have enhanced profitability, cemented global client relationships, established strong business processes and, recently focused on hiring lateral talent from other top firms enabling them to compete and build scale and growth. 

New York is becoming the center of global practice along with London.  What are implications of this for your firm?

The conference is an unparalleled opportunity to meet with other firms at the top of the profession to discuss the monumental changes beginning to sweep across global firms. 

All Star Faculty of Managing Partners, Practice Heads, 
Corporate Counsel and Advisors

Oliver Brettle, Partner, White & Case LLP, London
Thierry Calame, Managing Partner, Co-Head of Intellectual Property, Lenz & Staehelin, Zurich
Sharon Daly, Senior Adviser, Consultant, FTI Consulting, Dublin, Ireland
Chris Darlington, Business Development Director, EMEA Legal, Williams Lea, London
Jack Diggle, Global Legal Management Consulting Leader, Deloitte LLP, London
Kevin Doolan, Partner, Strategy Four, London; Visiting Professor, Executive Education, Harvard Law School, Boston; Programme Director, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, (Co-Moderator)
Jon Doyle, Chief Operating Officer People, Governance & Communications and Legal, HSBC Bank plc, London
Ross Fairley, Senior Partner, Burges Salmon LLP, London
Marita Freddi, Head of Legal, TNB Project, Milan
Javier Fontcuberta, Managing partner, Cuatrecasas, Barcelona
Andrew Gillen, Senior Partner, Travers Smith, London
Pawel Guzik, Senior Legal Engineer, Norm Ai, London
Oliver Hemming, Global Lead Partner, Legal Management Consulting, Deloitte, London
Chris Holt, Chief Financial Officer, Linklaters LLP, London 
Marco Iannò, Partner, Legance, London
Dan Kayne, Founder, O Shaped, London
Martin Lebeuf, Managing Partner, Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier, Paris
Charles Martin, Senior Advisor, Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier, London
Moray McLaren, Professor of Law, LawAhead Centre, IE University, Madrid; Partner, Co-founder, Lexington Consultants, Madrid, (Co-Moderator)
Inês Sequeira Mendes, Managing Partner, Abreu Advogados, Lisbon, Portugal
Geoff Moore, Managing Partner, Arthur Cox LLP, Dublin, Ireland 
Laura Muir, Managing Director and General Counsel, Barclays, London
Isabel Parker, Chief Innovation Officer, White & Case LLP, London
Thomas Quoroll, Partner and Co-Founder of Applied Intelligence, London, Linklaters, London
Dr. Martin Reufels, Partner, Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek, Cologne, Germany
Jonathan Rigby, Chief Executive Officer, Mourant, Jersey
Kenny Robertson, Head of Innovation & Technology | Legal, Governance & Regulatory Affairs, NatWest Group, Edinburgh
Peter Scott, Global Managing Partner; Managing Partner, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific Norton Rose Fulbright LLP, London
Sara Scott, Head of Legal – Global Marketing, British American Tobacco, London
Christine Sullivan, Managing Partner, Benelux regional hub, Amsterdam, Fragomen Global LLP, Netherlands
Jack Tomlin, Head, Legal Sector Practice Group; Senior Director, Advisory & Transaction Services, CBRE, London
Tara Waters, Artificial Lawyer (AL, Harvey, London
Kerry Westland, Partner, Head of the Innovation Group, Addleshaw Goddard LLP, London

Programme Highlights:
09.00 – 14.00 including continental breakfast and lunch

Panel 1: Client View of Growth, Rates, AI, Collaboration
  • Understanding business risk and mitigation
  • Focus on cost control
  • AI: Are clients ahead of law firms in developing AI solutions and operational improvements?
  • When to collaborate with firms especially on AI? When to bring work in-house?
Panel 2: State of the Market: Outlook/ Strategy from Law Firm Leaders. Focus on U.S., U.K. and Europe.  New York is the New Leader of Global Business
  • Leaders panel
    • Strategy and change management.  How to differentiate your firm AI strategy
    • Growth, consolidation and scale
    • Global geopolitical instability and volatility
    • AI: Implications of AI growth for global firms including fees, rates, firm business model.
    • View of firm leaders on what clients want
    • Leading the global law firm business
  • War for Talent in U.K., Europe and U.S. and State of the Real Estate Market in U.K. and Europe
    • The competitive war for talent.  With firms of all sizes competing for talent, who are the winners and losers?
    • Recruiting and hiring senior talent; partners and associates
    • State of the real estate market globally, and in U.K. 
    • Designing the work environment for 2026-2027 and beyond
    • Space improvements to fit today’s working environment
Panel 3: AI: Implementation, Solutions, Uses, Collaboration
  • How AI changes the fabric of the firm.  How to differentiate your firm AI strategy.
  • Innovation and AI.  Financing technology including AI
  • Budgeting and pricing.  Buy or build? What products to use? What to build?
  • Adoption, training and development
  • Solutions for Government regulatory compliance. Investigations. Interface with GDPR and other laws and statutes.
  • Client collaboration.  What will clients pay for?  
Panel 4: Global Firms: State of the Market in Europe
  • Participants include France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Ireland and U.S. and U.K.
  • Growth and expansion of U.S. and U.K. firms in Europe; response of European firms 
  • How the state of the market in Europe is changing today.  How American and U.K. firms are adding to the mix of cultures with European firms on the Continent.
Panel 5: Financing Options for Law Firms including Private Equity
  • Regulatory and legal obstacles
  • Private equity investment
  • Combinations and mergers of law firms
  • Governance of merged new firms
  • Investing in AI native law firms, operational advantages or AI law firms
  • Financing technology investments including AI
CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDIT: CPE, CPD, US CLE have been applied for.
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About Sandpiper Partners, the Organiser
Lynn Glasser, the President, has organised the last 18 Annual Global Law Firm Leaders Conferences and has planned more than 2,000 events for legal and business leaders of law firms and companies. Sandpiper Partners is an educational and consulting firm with deep experience producing “business of law” and substantive law educational events, surveys, publications and solutions for law firms. www.sandpiperpartners.com.
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