Tuesday 05 July 2016 10:13 pm

Three years in a row for progress at Herbert Smith Freehills, with both revenues and profits up

The joint chief execs of law firm Herbert Smith Freehills today praised the firm's third year in a row of progress, as it revealed a boost to revenues and profits in its provisional results.

The figures

The firm reported revenues for the year to April of £870m, up seven per cent compared with the prior year's £815m.

Profits grew similarly, increasing to £278.2m, up seven per cent on the year before and an increase of 20 per cent over two years.

Meanwhile, profit per equity partner came in at £840,000, an increase of five per cent.

Why it's important

HSF has popped up on various legal panels this year, with the number of major panel appointments increasing by 21 to 161 and household names such as Weir Group, National Grid and RBS being added to the list. The firm's global corporate practice also advised on over 100 cross-border deals worth over $100bn (£76.7bn).

The legal eagles have also been involved in a number of high-profile cases, including advising ICBC Standard Bank on entering the UK's first ever deferred prosecution agreement. The firm is also advising Virgin Atlantic on its Heathrow slots financing.

The firm has also been focusing on expanding as of late, with three new offices opening in the year.

What Herbert Smith Freehills said

"This is the third consecutive year of significant progress for the firm," said Sonya Leydecker, joint chief executive. "The quality of our people, our exceptional global reach and the calibre of work handled across all our practice groups has underpinned another strong financial performance."

Mark Rigotti, joint chief executive, added: "From a regional perspective, our Paris, Madrid and German offices had exceptional years within Europe and our London and Belfast offices also had outstanding years. Germany is an ongoing success story and has shown year on year growth, reflected by the opening of our third German office in Dusseldorf."