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I would describe Sidley in London as a medium-sized outfit of an elite US firm with strengths in a suite of transactional and advisory practices. While it is undoubtably one of the most prestigious firms in the US, it currently is and historically has trailed the traditional V10 firms (Wachtell, Cravath, Simpson, Sullivan, Davis Polk, Paul Weiss, Skadden, Latham, Kirkland, Gibson Dunn) in terms of profitability. However, many see it as "leading the pack" of the immediate next tier; and indeed, being more similar to them than the rest of the firms in the V20. Thus, if I were to name Sidley's London competitors in terms of "type of firm" and general reputation, I would list Milbank, Cleary Gottlieb, Gibson Dunn, and Paul Hastings. 

However, in many cases it is more informative to look at competitors on an individual practice area basis. Here, looking at Sidley's best ranked departments in London I would list the following:

• Banking and Finance (Sponsors): Kirkland, Latham, Simpson, Weil, Paul Weiss.
• Corporate M&A: Latham, Skadden, Cleary, Davis Polk, Sullivan & Cromwell.
• Private Equity: although (quite surprisingly) Sidley isn't ranked for PE, since I know it is very focused on this practice area, I thought to mention some of its potential competitors here as well. The rivals with the highest regarded PE practices would indeed be the likes of Kirkland, Latham, and Simson Thatcher. However, given that Sidley's PE offering doesn't seam to boast of the same size and recognition, it might make more sense to think of the likes of Willkie, Ropes & Gray, and Gibson Dunn as competitors (since they also target the middle to high end segment and have relatively smaller teams).
• Debt Capital Markets: White & Case, Cleary, Sullivan & Cromwell, Davis Polk, Akin.
• Life Sciences (Regulatory): Arnold & Porter, Covington, Hogan Lovells.