page_title: Magic Circle (law firms)
section_title: History and evolution
hierarchical_section_title: Magic Circle (law firms) / History and evolution
caption_attribution_description: English: The Canary Wharf skyline as viewed from Wapping in East London, United Kingdom.
context_page_description: The Magic Circle is an informal term describing the five most prestigious London-headquartered multinational law firms with the largest revenues, which generally outperform the rest of the London law firms on profitability.
  The group comprises Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters and Slaughter and May.
context_section_description: The Magic Circle firms have headquarters in London but offices around the world. 
  The Magic Circle firms are pioneer in franchising out English law, setting up franchises in non-Anglophone countries.
  The Magic Circle has been termed a "journalistic device, coined by legal reporters in the wake of the break-up of its predecessor, the ‘club of nine'.". The "club of nine" was an informal group of law firms that comprised Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith (now Herbert Smith Freehills), Linklaters, Lovells (now Hogan Lovells), Norton Rose (now Norton Rose Fulbright), Slaughter and May and Stephenson Harwood. The members of the "club of nine" had an informal "no-poaching" agreement and the firm's senior partners would meet.
  In 1996, Stephenson Harwood was asked to leave the ‘club of nine’ due to its stagnant performance. The "club of nine" was disbanded in 2000.
  The Magic Circle, contrary to the "club of nine", is no informal grouping of law firms. Initially, the Magic Circle's membership was described by commentators as comprising the UK firms with strong corporate practices or international work. At the time, these firms were Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters, and Slaughter and May. Generally, the Magic Circle firms have among the highest earnings per-partner and earnings per-lawyer of UK-headquartered law firms.
  In 2004, Slaughter and May's then senior partner, Tim Clark, said: "It's a funny concept. I don't know where the term came from or who founded it. It's mainly something that comes up when we talk to journalists or they talk to us. We don't describe ourselves as a Magic Circle firm in any of our marketing material." Linklaters' then head of corporate, David Cheyne, said: "City law firms years ago used to provide information to each other so they could keep in touch with what was going on, but that ended yonks ago... It seems to be a term to describe the leading City firms and there is some truth in it." Then corporate partner at Herbert Smith Freehills and former investment banker Henry Raine said: "The phrase was coined by a legal magazine and referred to firms which were very strong in corporate or international work. At the time, Herbert Smith was languishing in the corporate stakes, and so was consigned to the outer darkness."
  In 2013, The Lawyer argued that Clifford Chance and Slaughter & May should no longer form part of the Magic Circle. It argued that Clifford Chance’s profitability does not match the other Magic Circle firms, and Slaughter & May operates a different (UK-focused) model and its revenue is less than half of the other Magic Circle firms.
  As of 2017 The Lawyer magazine no longer considers Slaughter and May to form part of the Magic Circle due to its lower revenues and UK domestic focus. In 2017, The Lawyer magazine stated that "Slaughters fits the silver circle bill in every respect. London-centric, sky-high PEP, top-tier work, an aura of prestige: Slaughter and May is far more like Macfarlanes than the Magic Circle quartet it is commonly lumped in with. To put it in the same category as Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters would be inaccurate, and to say it is in a class of its own is frankly showing the firm too much deference." Other commentators still consider Slaughter and May to be a member of the Magic Circle.
caption: Clifford Chance is headquartered in Canary Wharf.
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