Revenues up too despite pandemic
Clifford Chance has become the third magic circle player to post its 2020 financial results, revealing modest uplifts to both revenue and profit per equity partner (PEP).
The Canary Wharf-based giant boosted PEP by 5% to £1.69 million and increased revenue by 6% to £1.8 billion, according to its financial results for the year ending 30 April 2020. Profits sit at £666 million, again a 5% increase year on year.
Today’s results mark the strongest on record for the firm “despite the last quarter of the year being marked by the impact of the spread of the coronavirus across the globe”.
Similar to its magic circle rivals, CC revealed back in April that it had taken a number of steps to mitigate the financial impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, including deferring partner distributions and freezing salary reviews.
“In 2015 we put our vision to be the global law firm of choice at the core of all we do,” commented Matthew Layton, Clifford Chance’s global managing partner. “Since then, we have made excellent progress against our goals by taking a long-term view and making strategic investments in our business while remaining agile and adaptable.”
Layton added:
“I am very pleased that, over the five year period of our strategy, we have seen strong profitable growth across all our regions.”
The newly released financials follow the publication of Allen & Overy (A&O) and Linklaters‘ results last week. A&O saw PEP shrink by 1.7% to £1.63 million but revenue grow by 4% to £1.69 billion. Meanwhile, Links’ revenue increased slightly (0.7%) to £1.64 billion and PEP dropped by 5.1% to a still very impressive £1.61 million.