Magic circle outfit Clifford Chance has reported an increase in revenue and profits, citing in particular expansion in the US.
The global firm disclosed today that partnership profit grew by 10% to £856m, with profit per equity partner flat at £2,040,000 in the year to 30 April. The firm increased overall revenue by 9% to £2.3bn.
Clifford Chance said its growth globally was led by the US business delivering its best performance to date, with a 28% revenue increase.
CC and other major UK-founded law firms have increasingly pushed to expand in the United States, while Allen & Overy recently completed a merger with A&O Shearman. The firm opened a Houston office in June 2023 to expand its global energy and infrastructure work, with hires from rival US law firms.
Clifford Chance said it added 19 US partners in its last financial year, bringing the total stateside to 115. There are more than 400 lawyers in the firm’s New York, Washington D.C., and Houston offices. A firm spokesperson said it employs 3,760 lawyers and other fee-earners globally.
Charles Adams, global managing partner, said: ‘In another year of very strong performance, our record profits have enabled us to make substantial investments in our global team and operations. These strategic investments are already yielding benefits for our clients and our firm and position us for long-term success.
‘All practice areas delivered strong growth, particularly our litigation teams, which had another exceptional year. Energy transition and infrastructure investment, technology including AI, and private capital all continued to drive strong client demand for our breadth of transactional and advisory capabilities and sector expertise on a global scale.’
Several other big UK law firms have pointed to US growth when reporting positive financial results overall, with Linklaters stating its US market revenues had increased 24% and Kennedys stating that it had a 22% uptick in revenue in North America.
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