Do you know about the ‘Magic Circle’ law firms?: we tell you about its keys

We speak about the Big Four to refer to the world’s most important firms in the consulting and auditing sector. Basketball fans will remember the Dream Team, the nickname given to the US team that won gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. And if we go to fiction, the dream team is the Fantastic Four, the Marvel superheroes. What do they have in common? And why are we talking about them in an article on business advocacy?

It is common to use such concepts to talk about the best. Those who are undisputed leaders in their sector, whatever it may be, by numbers and merit. Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters and Slaughter and May make up an elite club accessible to very few.

These five British law firms, headquartered in London, which are leaders in turnover and in the international legal rankings of business advocacy, are known as the Magic Circle. This term was coined by legal journalists in the late 1990s to refer to law firms that excelled in banking, corporate and finance.

Later, in 2005, The Lawyer coined the term Silver Circle to refer to another selection of UK firms with a high volume of business, first focused on the UK market and later also making the international leap. Today, this club includes Ashurst, Berwin Cave Leighton Paisner, Herbert Smith Freehills, King & Wood Mallesons, Macfarlanes and Travers Smith.

Back to the Magic Circle, what are its key features? Here we take a look at its offices, turnover, position in legal directories and key transactions in 2022.

Offices

As mentioned above, they are all UK law firms headquartered in the financial district of the City of London. They also have an extensive network of offices around the world.

Allen & Overy

Allen & Overy has more than 40 offices worldwide. Two offices are located in the UK, 15 more in Europe, one of them in Madrid (Calle Serrano), with Antonio Vázquez-Guillen as Co-Managing Partner of Allen & Overy in Spain. Outside Europe, it has six offices in the US, eight in Asia Pacific, two in Africa and one in Latin America.

Clifford Chance

This British firm has 30 offices worldwide in five different regions (Africa, the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East). One of them is located on Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid, whose office manager is Jaime Velázquez.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringe

It has around 40 offices worldwide, also in five regions (Africa, America, Asia Pacific, Europe and Middle East). The Madrid office, located in the Torre Europa, is headed by Álvaro Iza.

Linklaters

Linklaters has a network of 30 offices in 20 countries around the world, providing legal services to five regions. Its Spanish office is located on Calle Almagro in Madrid, headed by José Giménez.

Slaughter and May

This UK firm has a corporate, commercial and financial practice that provides services worldwide. However, its number of offices is smaller than the rest of the Magic Circle firms. It currently has offices in London, Brussels, Beijing and Hong Kong.

Turnover in Spain

Turnover figures for law firms operating in Spain, including four of the Magic Circle member firms, are published each year between April and May, after the end of the year. In the coming months, we will know the updated data for 2023. The data for 2022 gives the following picture in financial terms.

Firm’s turnover ranking

In the Top 25 turnover in Spain, published annually by El Confidencial, Clifford Chance, Linklaters and Allen & Overy are ranked 11th, 12th and 13th respectively. In this list of revenues (in millions of euros), the following are left out of the list.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer for being below these figures and Slaughter and May for not operating in Spain.

Turnover ranking by lawyer

However, when the Top 25 is organised according to turnover per professional, the three Magic Circle firms that were mid-table in the previous ranking move up to first, third and fourth place this time: Allen & Overy, Linklaters and Clifford Chance.

Global data on Magic Circle signatures

If we leave Spain and take as a reference the global data of the Magic Circle firms. The results, at the last fiscal year-end (April 2022) in the United Kingdom, are as follows:

Legal Rankings

Magic Circle law firms operating in Spain are among the top ranked by leading legal directories such as Chambers & Partners and The Legal 500 in key areas of business law, such as Corporate/ M&A and Banking & Finance.

Magic Circle’s most important operations in Spain in 2022

Allen & Overy advised EQT IX Fund on the signing of an agreement with funds managed by Apax Partners to purchase its shares in Idealista for over €1.3 billion and BNP Paribas as sole arranger of the debt financing and underwriting facilities for IFM Investors’ bid for 22.69% of Naturgy Energy Group’s shares, valued at €5.06 billion.

Clifford Chance represented Teléfonica in its EUR 42.3 million merger with O2 and Virgin Media. It also advised Cellnex Telecom on the €10 billion financing of its acquisition of the European telecommunications towers of CK Hutchison and Play.

Linklaters advised IFM Investors on Global’s €5.06 billion partial voluntary takeover bid for Naturgy and Banco Santander on the €250 million financing of Cellnex Holland’s acquisition of T-Mobile, a joint venture with Deutsche Telekom.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised Croda International on the €820 million acquisition of Fragrance Spanish Topco and Amadeus IT Group on its €1 billion bridge facility for debt financing.