Perkins Coie is opening an office in London with a technology-focused corporate team led by former White & Case private equity co-head Ian Bagshaw.  

The office is the first for the 1,200-lawyer firm in Europe and is intended to win work from local and European high-growth tech companies and their founders, mid-market private equity funds and family offices.  

“This is a foundational move into a key global financial centre,” said Jason Day, firmwide co-chair of Perkins Coie’s corporate practice. “Our vision is to build out our European team based in London with the best talent. London is a gateway to both Europe and the US, and we plan to continue growing there to create a network of European talent that will serve clients across the continent.”

Three other lawyers are joining from White & Case, including partner Jan Andrusko, who led the firm’s Central and Eastern Europe TMT practice and at Perkins Coie will be European head of M&A.

Seattle-founded Perkins Coie counts the likes of Amazon and Google as clients and said the new office would build on its US experience advising leading technology companies.  

The firm plans to “leverage its privacy and technology transactions practices, including with M&A transactions”, to accelerate the growth of the London office and its focus on European growth capital clients, it said in a statement.  

For his part Bagshaw was co-head of private equity at Linklaters before joining White & Case in 2013, where he built one of London’s top PE practices. He left the firm in 2021 to pursue opportunities outside of law, later becoming chair of a startup intended to help students from underserved areas into top universities and companies.  

Also joining Perkins Coie for the launch from White & Case are partner Jan Stejskal and senior counsel Jan Jakoubek. Their combined practices span private equity transactions, M&A, commercial and media law and corporate finance.

The group is completed by former White & Case private equity associates Craig Fagan and Barry O’Driscoll, who were most recently general counsel at banking startup Bud and translation platform Phrase respectively. They have joined Perkins Coie as partners.  

“We’re energised by the opportunities we’ve identified to serve clients in London and across Europe, and to bring our track record advising tech-focused clients in the US to Europe with a stellar launch team,” said Bill Malley, Perkins Coie’s firmwide managing partner. “We aim to quickly become a leading advisor for European companies and private equity firms.”  

Perkins Coie pulled in revenue of $1.2bn last year according to The American Lawyer, placing it 43rd on the Am Law 100. The London office will be firm’s 21st globally and its first outside of the US and Asia.