As the law firm financial reporting season gets into gear, Linklaters has published numbers suggesting that 2023-24 was another highly lucrative year for the City’s elite.

The magic circle firm has posted record pre-tax profits of £942m for the year to 30 April, a 10.3% rise on the previous year. Income rose 10% to £2.1bn, while profit per equity partner climbed 8% to £1.9m. Profit per partner was up 7% to £1.8m.

Last year the exceptional cost of closing the firm’s Moscow office following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine contributed to a 2% fall in profits on 2022.

Managing partner Paul Lewis said: ‘It’s been an exceptional year with record financial results and revenues exceeding £2bn for the first time. We’ve seen a strong performance across the firm, with M&A, complex restructurings, contentious mandates and energy transition-linked projects the biggest drivers of growth.

‘In what remain challenging markets for businesses, our corporate, bank, funds and financial investor clients continue to turn to our global platform on their biggest, cross-border mandates. These are the roles that have placed us top of league tables across the UK, Europe and Asia, as well as powering our UK and US offices to their best ever year.

‘With markets now bouncing back, particularly on the public M&A front, our teams have had a very busy start to the year.’

Linklaters elected 27 new partners on 1 May, one third fewer than in 2023. The firm said it achieved its diversity targets: 40% of its new partner promotions were women and 15% under-represented minority ethnic (UK and US).

In May Linklaters increased salaries for newly qualified solicitors from £125,000 to £150,000, bringing the firm into line with Freshfields and other top-ranking City rivals.

 

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