UK Firms Earn Top Three Spots for Revenue in Global 100
English law firms have an advantage in the American Lawyer’s Global 100 because of profits from their international expansions.
Some firms in the United Kingdom are earning more profits from their international offices than from their London bases, the American Lawyer reports. They include Allen & Overy, which is sixth in terms of overall revenue, and Clifford Chance, which is No. 1.
At Clifford Chance, for example, the firm earned about $2.66 billion in revenue in the most recent fiscal year, and about $1.56 billion came from international offices. Managing partner David Childs told the publication that about 15 percent of the firm’s revenue came from growth markets in central and eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
The global reach of London firms will likely help them weather the current economic downturn better than the 2000 dot-com crash, the story says.
The top three law firms on the Global 100 list (reg. req.), in terms of gross revenue, are British. The top five are:
Clifford Chance ($2.66 billion gross revenue)
Linklaters ($2.59 billion gross revenue)
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer ($2.36 billion gross revenue)
Baker & McKenzie ($2.19 billion gross revenue)
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom ($2.17 billion gross revenue)
But the top three firms in terms of profits per equity partner are based in the United States. The top five on the global PEP list are:
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz ($4,945,000 PEP)
Cravath, Swaine & Moore ($3,300,000 PEP)
Sullivan & Cromwell ($3,055,000 PEP)
Slaughter and May ($3,035,000 PEP)
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges ($3,010,000 PEP)
