The Legal Cheek View
Howard Kennedy has undergone some significant changes in recent years — and appears to have come through them in strong shape. The firm recently elected James Stewart as managing partner, succeeding Craig Emden, who had held the post since 2017 and guided the firm through a period of sustained growth.
Financial performance has been robust: firmwide revenues rose 15% this year to £74 million, putting them firmly on course to hit their £80 million target for the next financial year. Profit per equity partner (PEP) climbed even more sharply, up 21% to £362,000 from £300,000 the previous year.
Driving much of this growth are the firm’s financial services and real estate departments, while its tech and media practice — fronted by high-profile co-founder Mark Stephens — adds a dash of celebrity sparkle. Stephens has acted for figures such as James Hewitt, Vernon Unsworth and Julian Assange. The real estate and arbitration teams have also been bolstered by the acquisition of construction boutique Corbett & Co, which brought across seven lawyers, including three partners.
All of this stems from the firm’s roots in a bold 2013 merger between the steady corporate-focused Howard Kennedy and the quirkier, media law-leaning Finers Stephens Innocent. What once looked like an improbable mix of practice areas and personalities has been successfully consolidated into a thriving, cohesive outfit.
More recently, notable deals include acting for financial services company Lendhub on a £13 million refinancing deal and the buy-back of Pandora Jewellery’s UK franchised business in real estate. The firm is also known for advising Zelda Perkins (former assistant to Harvey Weinstein), and acting for the British Humanist Association and Witchcraft and Human Rights Information Network on a £500 million claim lodged against them by a preacher. Most recently, the firm successfully represented Catherine Waller-Edwards in the Supreme Court in a landmark undue influence case against One Savings Bank.
A move out of the West End several years ago — where both legacy firms had been based — to swanky 1 London Bridge overlooking the Thames and the City is symbolic of Howard Kennedy’s ethos. “The view is the highlight!” says one happy trainee and “the social space which was renovated a few years ago is still the best part of the office.” Instructions are increasingly coming in from banks, companies and start-ups across the river.
What all this means for rookies at the firm right now is a reasonable combination of decent work upon which to cut their teeth and a “really good” work/life balance. “Back in time for Antiques Road Trip,” quips one trainee. Another junior lawyer provides this insight: “I’m out the door by 7pm absolute latest — the partner once apologised to me for putting in a call from 6.30-7.30pm, calling it a ‘late one’. Everyone respects commitments you have outside of work and it’s noticeable that the firm adapts to what people need, especially working parents.”
Offering their own take on the balance on offer, one source tells us: “It can depend, but overall, the work-life balance is very good. Your team members are generally very conscious of capacity. So long as you as a trainee are upfront about capacity levels then, save where in the rare times when it’s ‘all hands-on deck’ to meet an imminent deadline, you are not expected to work excessive hours simply because someone has asked you to do something”. Our spies do, however, acknowledge that “the nature of life in a City law firm [means] that you will occasionally work a late night”, specifically noting that “some seats are worse than others — the obvious ones, M&A—when you near completion on a deal — [which] has long hour”.
However, when the long hours do come calling, juniors are at least engaged in top-quality work. “No matter what seat I have been in, the entire team has been keen to get me involved where they can,” one source tells us. “I have been given management of a transaction and my own caseload”. Naturally there’s the odd bit of admin work that falls on rookies laps, but overall, the balance appears to be about right.
The firm’s tech offering is still in its infancy but “investment is being made widely across the firm” — Howard Kennedy have selected and begun rolling out Jylo, a generative-AI powered document review / marketplace tool, which was piloted late last year. Provisions for WFH are decent — as one junior adds, they “provided everything I requested”. Other perks include free lunches three times a week in office, which is an “added benefit” although as one junior adds “it would be nice if the menu was changed each day!”
The training experience is generally solid, with insiders reporting plenty of “hands-on experience” thanks to “regularly being taken to client meetings, mediations and court”, as well as “a broad variety of work with different types of clients and direct client contact”, according to our sources. Senior lawyers are said to “create an environment where it is easy to ask any questions and seek guidance” but they’re also “very good at making sure that I get out the door at a decent time on a regular basis”.
Partners take an interest in trainee development, even when working remotely, as one insider details: “From the first day my supervisor encouraged me to pick up the phone and speak to seniors across different teams. Cameras are always on, on team calls, and partners sit in the open plan office, which creates a non-hierarchical atmosphere.” “There is no feeling of hierarchy. All partners are interested and invested in your development and so I feel I can ask them anything,” another rookie summarises.