American law firm to close London office

One of America’s oldest law firms is closing its London operation just three years after a high-profile launch.

Armstrong Teasdale — one of the 200 highest-earning American firms — is understood to have told staff that it will “imminently” close its City office.

The firm, which was founded in St Louis in 1901, launched in the City in 2021 by taking over a smaller practice, Kerman & Co, that specialised in a range of business law fields.

At the time, the firm said that the takeover gave it a 50-lawyer strong presence in London. The move was the climax of rapid expansion outside of the firm’s Missouri base, as the firm added eight international offices in slightly more than two years.

It has now been reported that the firm is to shut and that leaders of the City of London Law Society are attempting to find places for at least six trainee solicitors.

In a letter seen by The Times, Colin Passmore, chairman of the City group, has written to firms in an attempt to place trainees, some of whom will qualify as soon as next month.

Passmore told City law firm leaders that the end of Armstrong Teasdale’s London operation “came to light only recently and is now urgent”. He said that the firm had confirmed to the society that it was pulling out of London and that it needed to find positions for its trainees.

He added that the City society had “some information on these future solicitors and are reassured they would be strong candidates”.

The demise of Armstrong Teasdale will come as a sharp illustration to US lawyers that there is no guaranteed success in opening a London office — especially for firms outside the main US legal centres of New York, Chicago, Texas and California.

Armstrong Teasdale did not respond to a request for comment from The Times.

English and US firms in the City will be struggling with increasing staff overheads as the biggest American players continue to raise salaries for junior lawyers.

American firms currently dominate the league table for junior salary pay, with Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and Paul Weiss in joint top position, offering newly qualified solicitors starting salaries of £180,000.