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Income Taxes - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014
Dec. 31, 2013
Dec. 31, 2012
Income Tax Disclsoure [Line Items]      
Foreign loss carryforwards $ 14,700,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsOperatingLossCarryforwardsForeign    
Deferred tax assets, compensation deductible 600,000ghl_ChangeinCurrentTaxesPayable    
Valuation Allowance, Amount 2,932,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance 4,938,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance  
Foreign tax credit carryforwards 351,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsTaxCreditCarryforwardsForeign 4,252,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsTaxCreditCarryforwardsForeign  
Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation, Repatriation of Foreign Earnings, Amount 1,800,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationRepatriationOfForeignEarnings    
Income Taxes Receivable 3,800,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxReceivable 1,500,000us-gaap_IncomeTaxReceivable  
Current income taxes payable 10,007,000us-gaap_TaxesPayableCurrent 15,345,000us-gaap_TaxesPayableCurrent  
U.S. statutory tax rate 35.00%us-gaap_EffectiveIncomeTaxRateReconciliationAtFederalStatutoryIncomeTaxRate 35.00%us-gaap_EffectiveIncomeTaxRateReconciliationAtFederalStatutoryIncomeTaxRate 35.00%us-gaap_EffectiveIncomeTaxRateReconciliationAtFederalStatutoryIncomeTaxRate
Greenhill & Co., Europe Holdings, Limited      
Income Tax Disclsoure [Line Items]      
Valuation Allowance, Amount 2,600,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= ghl_GreenhillCoEuropeHoldingsLimitedMember
2,800,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= ghl_GreenhillCoEuropeHoldingsLimitedMember
 
Foreign loss carryforward, 7-8 years      
Income Tax Disclsoure [Line Items]      
Foreign loss carryforwards 1,500,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsOperatingLossCarryforwardsForeign
/ us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardAxis
= ghl_Foreignlosscarryforward68yearsMember
   
Foreign loss carryforward, 16 years or longer [Member] [Domain]      
Income Tax Disclsoure [Line Items]      
Foreign loss carryforwards $ 13,200,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsOperatingLossCarryforwardsForeign
/ us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardAxis
= ghl_Foreignlosscarryforward16yearsorlongerMemberDomain
   
Foreign loss carryforward, 17 years or longer      
Income Tax Disclsoure [Line Items]      
Minimum period carried forward 16 years