science

Linklaters

Linklaters is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Linklaters rather than just read about it. In short: Linklaters LLP is a British multinational law firm, headquartered in London. Founded in 1838, it is one of the five 'Magic Circle' law firms known for their corporate and financial expertise.

Key takeaways

Linklaters belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Linklaters to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Linklaters from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Linklaters LLP is a British multinational law firm, headquartered in London. Founded in 1838, it is one of the five 'Magic Circle' law firms known for their corporate and financial expertise. It currently employs about 3,100 lawyers in 30 offices across 20 countries. In financial year 2024-25, Linklaters reported revenues of £2.32 billion and average profits per equity partner of £2.2 million. In the UK, the firm has top-tier rankings across many practice areas, including corporate/M&A, capital markets, litigation, banking and finance, restructuring and insolvency, antitrust and tax. In 2021, Linklaters was ranked second for the number of FTSE 100 clients. For direct deals by institutional investors in the first half of 2016, Linklaters tied for first place. In the 2021 Global Law Firm Brand Index, Linklaters was named as having the world's fourth strongest brand.

History Linklaters was founded in London in 1838 when John Linklater entered into a partnership with Julius Dods. The firm, initially known as Dods & Linklater, developed a practice in corporate law, including advising on the creation of the Metropolitan Water Board. On 4 May 1920, the firm, then known as Linklater & Co, merged with another renowned London firm, Paines Blythe & Huxtable, which had been founded by a descendant of Thomas Paine. For most of the twentieth century, Linklaters & Paines was predominately a domestic corporate law firm, with only a small number of overseas offices. However, in 1998, Linklaters & Alliance was created in partnership with many of Europe's leading law firms, including De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek in Amsterdam, De Bandt van Hecke Lagae in Brussels, Loesch & Wolter in Luxembourg, Lagerlöf & Leman in Stockholm and Oppenhoff & Rädler in Germany. Over the next five years, Linklaters & Paines merged with the last four of these Alliance firms, as well as several other European firms, in Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, Germany, Czech Republic and Poland. The firm opened new offices in Amsterdam, Bangkok, Beijing, Budapest, Bucharest, Bratislava, Lisbon, Madrid, Milan, Rome, São Paulo, and Shanghai. In 1999, amid this global expansion, the firm shortened its name to Linklaters. On 1 April 2005, after Japan enacted laws to allow certain international law firms to open offices in the country, Linklaters created Japan's first fully merged law firm practising Japanese, English and US law. Linklaters spun off its offices in Bratislava, Bucharest, Budapest and Prague into a separate firm, Kinstellar (an anagram of Linklaters) in 2007. In the aftermath of the credit crunch in 2008, Linklaters cut 270 jobs in London, consisting of around 120 lawyers and 150 other staff. This was reported to be part of managing partner Simon Davies' plan to become a smaller, more profitable organisation. By 2008, Linklaters had the highest gross revenue of any firm in the world, $2.4 billion, buoyed by work including the firm's role as advisor to Lehman Brothers and its world number one ranking for deals by total value. On 1 May 2012, Linklaters entered into an integrated alliance with Australian law firm Allens. Allens and Linklaters operate two joint ventures in Asia: one focused on energy, resources and infrastructure services, and another on Indonesia in collaboration with domestic firm Widyawan & Partners. On 1 February 2013, the firm entered into an alliance with leading South African law firm Webber Wentzel. Linklaters also has a best-friend arrangement with Talwar Thakore & Associates, a leading Indian law firm. Furthermore, since 2017 the firm has operated in Saudi Arabia in agreement with Zamakhchary & Co. In 2018, the firm partnered with newly established Zhao Sheng Law Firm in order to practise mainland Chinese law. The joint operation currently has offices in the Shanghai Free-Trade Zone and in Beijing. In 2021, Linklaters opened an office in Dublin, structured as a separate partnership called "Linklaters & Co", which provides advice on EU law but not Irish domestic law. Later this same year, the firm announced its goal to cut its own Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 70 percent, and its Scope 3 emissions by 50 percent, by 2030. By 2022, Linklaters had advised on more mergers and acquisitions involving Russian groups than any other major law firm. After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the firm was the first major law firm to announce it would end its business in Russia.

Offices Linklaters was founded and remains headquartered in London. As of 2025, the firm has 30 offices across 21 countries throughout Asia, the Middle East, North America, South America and Europe.

Notable lawyers Notable lawyers of the firm include:

See also List of largest law firms by profits per partner

References

External links Media related to Linklaters at Wikimedia Commons Official website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Linklaters

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Linklaters claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Linklaters before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Linklaters ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Linklaters

In research: Linklaters appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Linklaters in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Linklaters is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1838 establishments in England, Biopharmaceutical law firms, Foreign law firms with offices in Hong Kong, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Linklaters outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Linklaters in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Linklaters means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Linklaters out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Linklaters in simple terms?

Linklaters LLP is a British multinational law firm, headquartered in London. Founded in 1838, it is one of the five 'Magic Circle' law firms known for their corporate and financial expertise.

Why does Linklaters matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Linklaters?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Linklaters.