Image via REBusinessOnline
Latham & Watkins: Geographic Expansion
Law firm signed 131,000 SF office lease expansion in Midtown Manhattan, increasing total occupancy to 251,000 SF at 1285 Avenue of the Americas on an 11-year term
Source: REBusinessOnline
The leadership read
Market entry of this kind typically deepens demand for legal leadership bench strength in the region over the following 12–18 months.
Market context: Backdrop: a 98.6 (Neutral) Talent Market Index (down 1.4 on the month) with Americas activity easing (-2.6pts).
Latham & Watkins: 2 signals in the last 90 days — above the Legal median of 1 across 3 tracked companies; 0.1% of MitchelLake's Americas signal flow; 2 tracked across 47 days.
Market entry — the MitchelLake playbook
When a company expands into a new market, the first leadership hires decide whether it lands. A selection of market entries we've run:
Market entry · Oceania
Square
Executive Search Fintech
Market entry
Dropbox
Executive Search for SaaS
Market entry · Asia
Deliveroo
Executive Search in ASEAN
Market entry · Oceania
SurveyMonkey
Managing Director APAC (first hire in region) / Country Manager
Market entry · Asia
LivePerson
Director ASEAN (first hire in region); also Head of Presales APAC
Market entry · Oceania
Etsy
Managing Director, Australia + Asia (MD APAC)
MitchelLake in this thematic
Our work · 2022
Head of eCommerce and Consumer Experience (CX) / GM North America
LittleOak
Americas · Ecommerce · cross-border · ecommerce-growth
Our work · 2019
VP of Sales, Americas
Longtail UX
Americas · MarTech/SEO/SEM · first us hire · cross border
Our work · 2019
VP Sales (US) / CEO
Multiple (Longtail UX, Genbook)
Americas · Technology/SaaS · founder-transition · international-expansion
Also at Latham & Watkins →
More signals across Legal
Restructuring · Oceania
Pinsent Masons →Junior lawyer at Pinsent Masons used AI to draft misleading emails for High Court case; firm referred itself to Solicitors' Regulation Authority - signals need for comprehensive AI governance, training protocols, and potential organizational restructuring around technology oversight
Ma Activity · EMEA
DLA Piper →DLA Piper settled a £220m legal dispute with Edinburgh Council over a delayed tram project that cost £300m over budget and delivered 3 years late. This signals potential reputational and operational challenges.
Geographic Expansion · Americas
Mercari →Mercari, Japan's largest C2C marketplace, partnered with Zonos to enable cross-border commerce expansion, starting with shipments from Japan to the United States.
Geographic Expansion · Americas
Nuro →Nuro is expanding robotaxi operations to Houston through partnership with Uber and Lucid, with mid-2027 launch planned.
Geographic Expansion · Americas
Coherent Corp. →Coherent Corp., a key Nvidia supplier, is doubling the size of its InP semiconductor manufacturing facility in Sherman, Texas, expanding from 70,000 to 140,000 square feet and quadrupling wafer production capacity. The expansion is backed by $50M in CHIPS and Science Act funding plus $20M in prior Texas state support.
Geographic Expansion · Americas
Jaguar Land Rover →JLR prioritizing North America as a growth region, focusing on luxury and hybrid vehicle demand
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