Turnover at Magic Circle firms rose by a modest 2.6% this year, with the UK’s five Global Elite firms pulling in over £5.2bn of fees and £4.2bn worth of profit in the 2011/12 financial year.
As the UK’s financial reporting season kicks off, Allen & Overy emerges as one of the top performers after another strong year that saw turnover climb by 5% to reach £1.18bn, up from £1.12bn in 2010/11. The firm is one of the best performing in the group over the past five years, growing revenues by an average of 3% each year since 2008. Much of that can be attributed to the firm’s network in emerging markets, with around 15% of A&O’s lawyers now based in Asia.
At the other end of the spectrum, Linklaters emerges as the worst-performing Magic Circle firm over the past five years, with revenues declining by an average of 1.3% a year. The firm saw revenues grow by just 0.6% this year to reach £1.21bn, but PEP rose by 2% to £1,184,000 after a partnership restructuring at the firm in December that saw 25 partners asked to leave and a further 16 partners de-equitised.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s turnover is down by 0.7% to £1.14bn this year in sterling terms, the third successive year of declining revenues for the firm while PEP is at a five-year low of £1,290,000.
Clifford Chance did not provide official financial results for our survey as its figures had not been audited by press time. However, sources at the firm indicated that it had a strong year, with revenues up by a healthy 5% to reach £1.28bn and a PEP of £1,600,000, up by 12% on the previous year.
Slaughter and May, which also does not declare its revenue figures, saw turnover rise by 2% to reach £448.8m this year.
These firms are the UK members of our Global Elite, part of our Global 100 report. On aggregate, the world’s top 100 firms have seen profits rise by 6% on average to total over $31bn this year, the highest level since our Global 100 survey began in 1990.
The total number of lawyers employed by the world’s 100 largest firms reached 108,827, a 4% rise on the previous financial year.
These impressive results come after a number of years of consolidation in the sector. SNR Denton and Squire Sanders reported their first full financial year results this year following their respective mergers, and a total of seven Swiss Vereins are now included in the top 100.
