Eversheds Sutherland

Eversheds Sutherland was formed in 2017 after a merger between UK law firm Eversheds and US firm Sutherland Asbill & Brennan.

Eversheds began life in 1988 as a four-way merger between Evershed & Tomkinson of Birmingham, Alexander Tatham & Co of Manchester, Broomheads of Sheffield, Daynes Hill & Perks of Norwich.

Further expansion was rapid, and mergers with firms in Newcastle, Cardiff, Ipswich, Leeds, Nottingham, Bristol and London all came before by 1995. As such, it was one of the first ‘national’ firms with offices across the UK.

This firm’s international presence came through yet more mergers – the most significant of which was with a large chunk of Frere Cholmeley Bischoff in 1998. Frere Cholmeley was a respected London firm of 248 years standing that had got into difficulties primarily through over-expansion in the 1980s, creating a massive overdraft and partners bound together by debt. Eversheds picked up the bulk of its London office, and well as its outposts in Paris, Moscow and Sofia.

The 2000s were marked by further international expansion – usually through associations with well-established local firms – but the firm’s primary market remained the UK, where its mainstays were property and corporate work, and a good number of public sector clients.

The recession brought considerable turmoil, with profits dropping 27 per cent in 2008/09. To address this, Eversheds implemented ‘Project August’ – code for redundancies, cost-cutting and office closures. Some 20 per cent of the entire UK workforce left the firm across 2008/09. Rather than lay off a host of lawyers in one brutal cut, there were four rounds of redundancies. The Norwich office was closed, though the rumour that the Newcastle would be shut never came to pass

There was an understandable hit to morale, but it was widely accepted that Eversheds had become flabby and that the cuts were necessary. The high turnover of staff also helped the firm change its nature from a fairly relaxed and personable one to a much more corporate beast.

The new slimmed-down Eversheds was better fitted to its 2020 vision of becoming global. It pushed on with expansion, opening offices in an increasing number of international locations – though the vast bulk of revenue was still generated in the UK.

That changed after a 2017 merger with US firm Sutherland Asbill & Brennan, which created Eversheds Sutherland. The union moved the firm into the UK top 10 and global top 40 by size.

Speaking to The Lawyer, Eversheds Sutherland co-CEO Lee Ranson said the next big challenge was to ensure “consistency of service to clients across the global firm”.

Appointed	UK managing partner	CEO	UK chair
1995			Keith James
2000	David Ansbro
2004			Alan Jenkins
2006	Bryan Hughes
2009	Lee Ranson	Bryan Hughes
2011			John Heaps
2014			Paul Smith
2017	Keith Froud	Lee Ranson (co-CEO)
2018			Pamela Thompson