Thirty-nine years, told through what we kept.
Every institution accumulates paper. Most throw it away. We didn't — partly out of habit, and partly because it turned out to matter.
The founding
Edmund Mercer QC and Charles Stone leave their respective chambers and firms to open a single office in the City of London, acting only for institutional clients — a narrower brief than either had practised under before.
1987
Eleanor Whitfield joins
Trained in Paris, Eleanor Whitfield joins the firm and begins building what will become its International Arbitration practice — then a single-partner department with two active matters.
1999
First Legal 500 recognition
Mercer & Stone is ranked by Legal 500 UK for the first time, in Commercial Litigation — the beginning of what is now an eight-year consecutive Tier 1 run.
2006
Financial Regulation practice founded
David Okonjo-Reid joins from the FCA's enforcement division, bringing a regulator's perspective to the firm's first dedicated Financial Regulation practice.
Edmund Mercer QC retires
After 27 years as co-founder and Senior Partner, Edmund Mercer QC retires from practice. Charles Stone becomes sole Senior Partner.
2014
Priya Anand joins as lateral hire
Priya Anand joins the partnership to lead Insolvency & Restructuring, expanding the firm's practice into contentious insolvency and cross-border restructuring work.
Edmund Mercer QC dies
Edmund Mercer QC, co-founder of the firm, dies at the age of 79. The partnership commissions a permanent plaque in the Finsbury Square reception in his memory.
The £340m trial
The firm's defence of a global investment bank against a £340m fraud claim concludes in a full dismissal at trial — among the largest wins in the firm's history.
2023
Today
Eleven partners, six counsel, twenty-eight associates, one office. Legal 500 Tier 1 for the eighth consecutive year. The brief hasn't changed since 1987 — only the number of people executing it well.