The highest earner at Macfarlanes was paid over £4m last year as the top-30 firm generated another hefty profit increase. Annual accounts filed at Companies House also show that the the Holborn, London-headquartered business ended 2023-24 with more than £100m in the bank.
In the 11-month period to 31 March, profit before members’ remuneration and profit shares totalled £176m, a like-for-like increase of 25% on the previous year. Bills delivered rose from £301m to £310m.
The firm had £104m in cash at the bank on 31 March, up from £89m 11 months earlier. Its highest earner received £4,053,000 in the period, up from £3,559,000 for the previous year.
Speaking in July when the firm published headline operating figures, senior partner Sebastian Prichard Jones said the firm was 'fortunate that our mix of practices saw high demand in 2023-24 in a challenging economic environment. We saw particularly strong performances from our transactional practices, especially with clients operating in the financial services space'.
The firm’s litigation and investigations practice has doubled in size over the last ten years and enjoyed a record year, he added.
Macfarlanes ended 2023-24 with 93 partners, two fewer than 11 months earlier, and nearly 500 professional staff. Macfarlanes disclosed in the summer that profit per equity partner increased 23.8% in 2023-24 to £2.6m.
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