Two decades of counsel, one operating principle.
Tell clients the truth about their position, then act on it with rigour. Everything else the firm does follows from that.
A firm built for the matters that actually arrive.
SALAW Associates opened in 2004 with three lawyers and a corporate advisory brief. The premise was narrow and has not changed: that mid-market companies and private clients were being served either expensively or badly, and rarely well.
Today the firm has forty legal professionals across four practice groups — Business & Commercial, Disputes & Advocacy, Personal & Private Client, and Regulatory & Advisory — covering fourteen practice areas from one office.
That structure exists for a practical reason. Serious matters rarely stay inside one discipline: a shareholder dispute develops a tax dimension, a restructuring turns on an employment question, a property acquisition stalls on a regulatory approval. Handling those in one building, under one accountable partner, is faster and materially cheaper than assembling three firms around a problem after it has already gone wrong.
We are not the largest firm available to you, and for the very largest institutional mandates we are not the right one. We say so when that is the case. What we offer is senior attention on every file, a written assessment before any work begins, and a named person who is accountable for the outcome.
To give clients the clearest possible view of their position, and then to act on it with rigour — so that every decision they take is an informed one, whether it leads to a courtroom or away from it.
To be the firm that mid-market businesses and private clients turn to first: senior enough for the hardest matters, accessible enough for the ordinary ones, and honest enough to say when neither is required.
Six commitments, written so you can hold us to them.
Candour before comfort
We tell clients what we actually think, including when it is unwelcome. An encouraging assessment that changes eight months later is worth less than nothing.
Preparation over performance
Matters are decided by the quality of the record, not the volume of the argument. We build the file first and let the advocacy follow from it.
Proportion
Not every problem needs litigation, and not every document needs forty pages. We match the response to the exposure and say so when a client is over-lawyering.
Confidentiality without exception
Access to files is restricted by matter, not by seniority. In family and criminal work this is a question of client safety, not just professional duty.
One accountable name
Every file has a named partner or senior associate who owns it. Work may be delegated; responsibility is not.
Access on both sides
Five per cent of the firm's chargeable hours go to pro bono work, counted in full toward targets. Partners take the same obligation as associates.
Depth measured in matters, not in headcount.
Partners at this firm average nineteen years in practice. The figures below are what that has produced since 2004.
22+
Years in practice
Founded 2004
2,400+
Matters concluded
Across all practice groups
1,100+
Clients advised
Companies, institutions and individuals
14
Practice areas
Under one coordinated team
94%
Client retention
Clients who instruct us again within three years
40
Legal professionals
Partners, counsel, associates and trainees
5%
Hours committed to pro bono
Counted fully toward billing targets
<1 day
Enquiry acknowledgement
Median first response to a new enquiry
How a matter runs, from first call to closing note.
The sequence is the same whether the matter is a two-week contract review or a three-year piece of litigation. Only the scale changes.
Listen and scope
We start with the facts and the timeline, not the law. Most of the first meeting is questions, and the useful ones are usually about what you need to happen rather than what happened.
Assess in writing
You receive a written assessment: what your position is, what the realistic options are, what each would cost and how long each would take. Nothing proceeds until you have it.
Agree the strategy
The strategy is a decision you make with our advice, not one we announce. Where options carry different risk profiles, we set out the trade-off rather than choosing for you.
Execute and report
A named lawyer runs the matter and reports on a fixed rhythm. Cost changes are flagged before they are incurred, never after.
Close and review
Every matter ends with a written closing note: what was achieved, what remains, and what should be put in place so it does not recur.
How the practice was built.
2004
The firm is founded
Sarah Aleem opens the practice with two colleagues and a corporate advisory brief, working from a single floor of the Chancery building.
2007
Disputes practice established
The firm takes on its first contested commercial litigation and builds a dedicated disputes capability around it.
2011
Family and private client group formed
A settlement-led family practice is established, with a mediation-first approach that remains the group's defining method.
2014
Criminal defence capability added
Omar Siddiqui joins from the prosecution service, bringing white-collar and economic-offence defence in-house.
2017
Move to Meridian Tower
The firm consolidates into its principal office and passes twenty-five legal professionals across four practice groups.
2019
Tax and structuring practice launched
Thomas Reyes joins as Of Counsel, adding dedicated tax advisory and revenue-dispute capability to the corporate offering.
2022
Pro bono programme formalised
Five per cent of chargeable hours are committed to pro bono work firm-wide, counted in full toward individual targets.
2026
Regulatory group expanded
Dedicated capacity is added in data protection, AML and sector licensing after three years of sustained demand.
Recognition, and what sits behind it.
Recognised in independent directories
Ranked for corporate, disputes and real estate work in each of the last nine editions, with individual recognition for four partners.
More than 2,400 matters concluded
Across transactional, contentious, private client and regulatory work since 2004.
Appointed to institutional panels
Retained on the external counsel panels of two listed groups and a development finance institution.
Judicial academy teaching
Partners lecture on economic offences, arbitration practice and child-centred family procedure at national training institutions.
Pro bono at scale
Over 9,000 pro bono hours delivered since the programme was formalised, principally in family, immigration and employment matters.
Published practitioner scholarship
Regular contributions to practitioner reviews on corporate governance, transfer pricing, interim relief and intellectual property.
Bring us the matter before it becomes a problem.
Most of what we do best is preventative. The earlier a question reaches us, the more options there are and the less it costs to resolve.
- Direct line
- +1 (212) 555-0142
- Response time
- Every enquiry acknowledged within one business day.