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Global turnover nudges up at Reed Smith while London posts equally steady growth

Top-30 global firm Reed Smith has seen its 2013 revenue grow by 6% to $1.075bn from $1.013bn, while its profit per equity partner figure rise by 5.5% to $1.14m from $1.08m in the previous financial year. In London, Reed Smith’s largest office, revenue reached $190m, an increase of around 5%.

Revenue per lawyer at the firm is unchanged at $690,000.

Sandy Thomas, global managing partner of the firm, told Legal Business: ‘It was a solid and strong year’, singling out the office openings in Singapore and Houston as particularly significant.

‘Our geographic reach is highly attractive to clients; we are experienced at managing our costs, and we understand how to offer and manage alternative pricing models so they work for clients and the firm,’ said Thomas.

The overall results represent an improvement on 2012 financials, which saw a 2% rise in turnover. However, the London performance is nonetheless short of the predictions of London managing partner Roger Parker, who told Legal Business at the end of last year that London office revenues would be around the $200m mark.

Nonetheless, Thomas is optimistic about workflows for the firm globally in the year ahead. ‘The transactional market has shown all the signs of a healthy 2014’, he said.

david.stevenson@legalease.co.uk