The young visionary leading McDermott London office to “elite” status

Few people under 40 run a global law firm’s City office, but Aymen Mahmoud of McDermott Will & Emery is leading the way.

In an interview with City A.M., the newly appointed managing partner – 39-year-old Mahmoud, embodies a firm that is “not afraid to put young people into leadership positions.”

The London office, perched on the 46th floor of 22 Bishopsgate, is pursuing a growth strategy that is “in sync with the wider global” plan.

Mahmoud said he has a clear ambition for the London office: to become “one of the top five elite firms.” He highlighted that the firm has climbed the global rankings significantly over the last five years.

Gobally, McDermott has generated $1.92bn (£1.51bn) over 2023, a near six per cent jump on the previous year, while its London office ranked in nearly $93m (£73m) in the same period. 

“If you combine a bunch of partners that really like working with each other and want to build, with a firm that is pushing the limits on for the trajectory of growth as quickly as possible, it tells you that ambition is in the DNA,” explained Mahmond.

In its London office, the firm has 32 partners and 90 fee earners, and in addition to the business services people, it has 191 people. Recently, the firm had corporate partner Michal Berkner join from Cooley, private equity partner Fatema Orjela join from Sidley Austin and City veteran dealmaker Graham White join as the office’s senior partner.

White is extremely well-known in the market, having previously been the senior partner of Kirkland & Ellis, managing partner of Fried Frank and partner at Linklaters. He will be supporting Mahmoud in running the firm’s City office.

Mahmoud was clear that recruitment, along with a good culture, are pivotal for the firm’s vision for growth.

He addressed “everybody says they got a great culture” but added that for the firm, “the proof will be in the pudding”.

He explained that building and having that strong culture leads to the retention of talent, and he noted it is doing this by focusing on associates’ career development plans.

He also noted that the firm is clear on how it recruits laterally, as he noted “clients are increasingly interested in teams”, so when McDermott is recruiting in an area, it is looking for teams to join.

However, associates at big law are currently involved in a war-for-talent as the prices of newly-qualified (NQ) lawyers keep going up and up at certain firms. There has been a recent bounce in salaries at some US firms and most of the magic circle firms after Quinn moved its up to £180,000.

McDermott’s NQ price is currently £151,000, so slightly above the magic circle prices of £150,000, but behind some of its fellow US firms. Speaking to the paper, Mahmoud said “all I’m gonna say is watch this space”.

In the meantime for its young lawyers, the new London leader wants to “become the number one career accelerator” for its associates, by creating and delivering a “market leading” training, use of tech and business development support.

Mahmoud stated that he had worked at loads of firms but McDermott is the best, so for his starting point, he said he has “this huge gift” so he wants to carry and drive the office the right way.

“We are really excited and really hungry,” he stated.