Up 9%
Magic Circle firm Clifford Chance partners are now pocketing an average of £2.3 million each, as the firm posted record results for the last financial year.
The 9% PEP bump came alongside revenue climbing 9% to £2.6 billion and partnership profit rising 11% to £1.05 billion, the first time the firm’s partnership profit has tipped over the £1 billion mark. Over the past three years, Clifford Chance has piled on £638 million in revenue and £295 million in profit.
The growth was spread right across the firm’s regions. Europe (including the UK) and the Middle East were up 7% and 12% respectively, while Asia Pacific surged 26% on the back of a capital markets resurgence. The Americas delivered growth of 9%, taking the region’s revenue growth to more than 65% over the past three years, driven by a hefty jump in US revenue.
Clifford Chance put the strong showing down to momentum in private markets, with plenty of activity across private equity/M&A, funds and investment management, restructuring and private credit, plus structural demand across technology and AI, healthcare and life sciences, defence, renewable energy and infrastructure.
The firm also reported AI adoption above 90% across the workforce, alongside office investments in Paris, Houston, London and an expanded New York base.
Charles Adams, global managing partner at Clifford Chance, said:
“These record results reflect the trust that clients place in us for their most critical cross-border matters. In an increasingly complex and fragmented geopolitical environment our connected global expertise combined with sector insights, give our clients a distinct advantage. This continues to set us apart at the top end of the market, delivering sustained profitable growth while strengthening the firm through substantial investments in talent and technology.”
The news comes as fellow Magic Circle firm Linklaters posted average partner profits of £2.48 million, an 11.4% jump, on revenue of £2.47 billion, while A&O Shearman saw partner pay climb to £2.2 million on broadly flat revenue of £2.8 billion.
“AI adoption above 90% across the workforce”: read as “we are jumping on the AI hype at the expense of our junior development (sometimes firing them), and will be scratching our heads in 20 years time when the fresh partners have not had chance to develop their skills properly and as a result our service quality declines”.
When you loook at how much work blood, sweat and tears you need to get to that point, that doesn’t see a lot