Figures courtesy of Companies House
The pre-tax profits of Magic Circle player Freshfields dipped last year despite a sharp rise in revenue, new figures reveal.
This comes after the firm announced in the summer of 2023 that it would no longer publish its financial performance outside what is required in company filings.
At the time managing partner Rick van Aerssen said that “we consider the real sign of the firm’s progress to be based on the quality of business we’ve built and the client mandates we’re winning around the globe”, rather than financial performance.
The new figures cover up to the end of April 2024, and show a pre-tax profit of £668.9 million, dropping from £726.3 million the previous year. This comes in spite of a climb in revenue of 18%, now sitting well clear of the £2 billion threshold at £2.12 billion.
At the top table the firm’s senior partner, managing partners, and heads of global practice grounds shared from a pot of £26.2 million, up from £21.8 million the year before.
The overall employee wage bill climbed by 15% to £1.1 billion, no doubt caused in part the ongoing pay war across City firms which saw Freshfields boost newly qualified lawyer pay by 20% in 2024, setting a new Magic Circle standard of £150,000.
Looking globally, the firm’s European work saw a 20% boost in revenue up to £1.56 billion, with US work rising from £311 million to £391 million, and Middle East and North Africa also increasing from £34 million to £42 million.
The only location where revenues fell was Asia, the firm’s figures dropping from £142 million in 2023 to £127 million last year.
These new figures were only filed late last week, while other Magic Circle firms released their results in press statements last summer.. These included Linklaters breaking the £2 billion revenue mark for the first time, Allen & Overy‘s pre-merger figure rising to £2.1 billion, and Clifford Chance taking top spot on £2.3 billion. Slaughter and May continues its longstanding tradition of not publishing results.
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