Linklaters has moved to within touching distance of the £2.5bn revenue mark, posting a 6.8% increase for 2025-26 to take turnover to £2.47bn.
Profit per equity partner (PEP) increased 11.4% to £2.48m, while profit before tax rose 11.6% to reach £1.2bn, marking the firm’s third consecutive year of double-digit profit growth.
The firm also trimmed its headcount slightly, with total lawyers down from 2,223 to 2,140, total partners down from 534 to 530, and full equity partners down from 493 to 490.
The results mark a slight slowdown on the 2024-25 financial year, when revenue rose 11% to £2.32bn and PEP increased by 15% to £2.2m.
The US was again the firm’s strongest performing region by profit growth, with US profits up 39%, on the back of 56% last year. Announcing the results, the firm said that US revenues have now doubled since 2021, with profit quadrupling over the same period.
Asia profit increased by 36%, up from 13% last year, while Europe and UK profit increased by 10% and 7% respectively.
‘Our results reflect the confidence and trust our clients continue to place in us to advise on their most high-stakes matters,’ said managing partner Paul Lewis.
He continued: ‘Our momentum continues to build as we attract and develop top-tier talent and deepen relationships with global clients, including in the US, where we have doubled revenue and quadrupled profit over the past four years.’
The US has been a core strategic focus in recent years, as leading UK firms have intensified their efforts to break into the world’s largest and most profitable legal market.
Linklaters continued to expand its Stateside presence in its last financial year, with notable hires including former Proskauer capital markets group head Kristina Trauger in July, and a four-partner team from litigation boutique Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler in January.
The latter team included Adeel Mangi – who was nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, but never confirmed – who now chairs the firm’s trial practice.
The most recent financial year also saw the firm make organisational changes in the US, hiring Maria Zaino from A&O Shearman as its new chief operating officer for the Americas this February, after appointing former legacy Shearman & Sterling global managing partner George Casey, who joined the firm in 2024, to the new role of chair of the Americas last June.
This expansion has continued into the new financial year, with the firm bringing over a pair of sports litigation partners from Paul Weiss just last week, including Christopher Boehning, who joins as chair of both the global sports practice and US strategic disputes.
In its London base, Linklaters hired partners including leveraged finance duo Peter Hayes and Angel Quek, who joined from Paul Hastings and Latham & Watkins respectively, and Matthew Hodgson, who joined from A&O Shearman as head of public international law in April.
Last July, the firm also hired restructuring partner Mei Lian, previously the co-chair of Paul Hastings’ London office.
Notable mandates the firm has worked on over the last year include advising the UK Government on the £38bn Sizewell C nuclear plant project, and acting for Unilever on the $9.2bn demerger of The Magnum Ice Cream Company, now listed in New York, London, and Amsterdam.
In Hong Kong, where Linklaters marked 50 years of operations in June, significant matters included advising New World Development on its $11.3bn financing, and advising Chinese tech company CATL on its $4.6bn Hong Kong Stock Exchange listing – one of four of the top ten Hong Kong IPOs by funds raised in 2025 that the firm advised on.
Linklaters has maintained its deals momentum into 2026, rising to the top of LSEG’s H1 2026 law firm advisory rankings for EMEA, acting on 94 deals worth a total of $161.7bn. The firm also ranked third for UK deals, with a total value of $76.9bn.
In its most recent partner promotions, announced this March and effective from 1 May, Linklaters promoted 37 lawyers to its partnership around the world – up from 34 in last year’s round.
Last year, the firm voted to reelect both Lewis and senior partner Aedamar Comiskey, with their terms set to run to 2029.
