Clyde & Co
Clyde & Co is a global law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The firm employs 2,600 legal professionals and more than 5,000 total staff. In 2022–23, Clyde & Co's revenue was £788.6 million.
History
Clyde & Co was founded by Scottish lawyer Richard Arthur Clyde. He came from a legal family, which in the last century has produced two Lords of the Court of Session in Scotland. Richard Clyde's nephew, the late Lord Clyde, was a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary from 1996 to 2001.The earliest record of Dick Clyde as a solicitor in independent practice dates to 1928. In 1933, he left his position as an assistant solicitor with a local firm and set up his own office in Lime Street in the heart of London's insurance district. He was instructed by Lloyd's underwriters and insurance companies, and went into partnership with Maurice Hill, a member of the founding family of the Liverpool solicitors, Hill Dickinson, and a descendant of Sir Rowland Hill who had established the penny post.
Michael Payton, who joined the firm in 1966, assumed the post of senior partner in 1984, and was named chairman in 2013, with James Burns elected to take his place as senior partner.
Expansion
In 1981 Clyde & Co opened its first overseas office in Hong Kong. In recent years, the firm has opened new offices in Sydney, Beijing, and Madrid. Clyde now has over 60 offices in six continents.In 2011, the firm announced mergers with Canadian firm Nicholl Paskell-Mede and UK firm Barlow Lyde & Gilbert. The merger with Barlow Lyde & Gilbert was reported as the largest merger between two UK law firms with an expected turnover of over £300 million. In September 2015, the firm merged with leading Scottish firm Simpson & Marwick. In 2022, the firm announced that it would merge with BLM, another law firm. The combined firm now goes by the Clyde & Co name, has 2,600 lawyers in 60 offices, and has an annual revenue of more than £700 million.
Controversy
In 2010, while working in Tanzania, former partner Krista Bates blew the whistle on an African lawyer working in association with Clyde & Co. who was involved in bribery and money laundering. After being suspended and expelled from the partnership in 2011, she sued, claiming whistle-blower status. Clyde & Co. argued that Bates could not claim whistle-blower status because she was a partner in the business, not an employed worker. In May 2014, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled in favor of Bates, stating that LLP members are "workers" for the purpose of whistleblowing protection, granting them the same benefits as workers. After the ruling, in June 2014, Bates joined the African airline Fastjet as its general counsel.In September 2020, in connection with the investigations into $4.5 billion missing from 1MDB, a $330 million account held by Clyde & Co was named in a civil forfeiture case filed by US Department of Justice prosecutors, who alleged the account was connected to a failed joint project with Venezuela's PDVSA which was established by 1MDB and a company established by Tarek Obaid, PetroSaudi.
Clyde & Co provided legal representation to an offshore company set up by Gennady Timchenko, a Russian oligarch and close Vladimir Putin confidante.