FINANCIAL YEAR-ENDS
Financial data shown is for the last financial year – either calendar year 2012 or 2012/13.
Financial years differ – most end in December in the US, and in April in the UK.
Legal Business takes the compilation of the Global 100 very seriously. We make every effort to ensure that the figures we publish are accurate and precise. The overwhelming majority of firms co-operate fully with us in this regard by providing us with the required information. Some firms choose not to co-operate officially with our data collection process and in these circumstances we rely on figures given to us by trusted but anonymous sources.
Firms with a † symbol next to their name chose not to provide any financial information or provided unaudited estimates for revenue and PEP.
DEFINITIONS
Turnover/revenue
Revenue figures do not include VAT, disbursements, interest or anything other than the worldwide fees generated by lawyers for their work during the last financial year.
Headcounts
Total lawyer numbers include partners, trainees, assistants, associates, of counsel and all other fully qualified lawyers but do not include legal executives, paralegals or other support staff. The headcounts we publish are always full-time equivalent averages over the firm’s most recent financial year.
Equity partners
We define full equity partners as partners that are full participants in the firm’s profits.
Non-equity partners
Non-equity partners, be they fixed-share, salaried, or laterals on probationary periods, are those that are not full participants in the firm’s profits, though they may have voting rights.
Net income
We define net income as the total profits that are available to be shared among all the equity partners. We treat profit sharing with non-equity partners as an expense, and it is therefore not included in the net income figure.
Profits per equity partner (PEP)
We calculate PEP by dividing net income by the mean number of full equity partners in the last financial year.
Revenue per lawyer (RPL) and profit per lawyer (PPL)
RPL is calculated by dividing turnover by the total number of lawyers. PPL is calculated by dividing net income by the total number of lawyers.
Profit margin
Profit margin is net income as a percentage of turnover.
Turnover change 2007-12
This figure is straight percentage increase in revenue between the 2007/08 financial year and the 2012/13 financial year.
EXCHANGE RATES
We have used average exchange rates across 2012 given by the US Federal Reserve for any currency conversions.
• £1 equals $1.5853.
• €1 equals $1.2859.
• AUS$1 equals $1.0359.
FOOTNOTES
1. Baker & McKenzie – figures included here apply to the year ending 30 June 2012 and are therefore six months behind most of the US firms and nine months behind the UK firms.
2. The UK headquartered firms – at the time of going to press, these firms had not finalised and audited their LLP accounts and these figures are subject to fluctuation. See the LB100 in September for the precise figures. Percentage changes on 2012 for UK firm figures are based on the final, signed-off figures that appeared in the LB100 2012 (LB227).
3. Norton Rose and Fulbright & Jaworski merged on 1 June 2013 to form Norton Rose Fulbright. The two legacy firms feature separately in the main table, as each firm posted a full financial year prior to the merger. Norton Rose did not provide profit information.
4. Herbert Smith Freehills – Herbert Smith and Freehills merged on 1 October 2012. The financials listed here represent a combined figures for the firm and were not provided by HSF.
5. King & Wood Mallesons – King & Wood and Mallesons Stephen Jaques merged in March 2012. The turnover figure provided here represents combined revenues provided by the firm. The firm did not provide profit figures and the data given here is based on legacy Mallesons Stephens Jaques.
6. Dentons – on 28 March 2013, SNR Denton, Salans and Fraser Milner Casgrain combined to form Dentons. All data here relates to legacy SNR Denton only.
7. Ashurst – data excludes Ashurst Australia (Blake Dawson), as a full financial merger between the firms will not take place until 2014.
8. Minter Ellison – no longer includes financials from its associated offices.
9. FIDAL – this firm does not operate a conventional equity partnership but comprises 615 shareholders, each of whom are paid a salary. These we classify as partners for the purposes of this survey. Of these, 70 individuals (including managing partners, regional directors, department directors and technical directors, earn an average of €317,000 – we classify these as equity partners for the purposes of this report.