Freshfields outstrips Magic Circle rivals with record partner payouts of more than £2m
The sums paid out to partners at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have surged to record highs of more than £2m, after the Magic Circle law firm’s revenues jumped 10 per cent year on year.
The centuries old law firm saw its profits increase for the sixth year in a row, after revenues surged to heights of more than £1.7bn.
The uptick saw the payouts given to Freshfields’ partners outrstrip those handed out by its Magic Circle rival, Clifford Chance, as profits-per-partner at Freshfields surged to record highs £2.07m, compared to Clifford Chance’s £2.04m.
The record payouts come on the back of a boom in demand for legal services following a record year for M&A activity caused by the economic chaos brought about by Covid-19.
The surge has in turn seen the payouts handed out to partners at the City’s major law firms hit record highs of more than £2m per partner in some of London’s highest paying firms.
Freshfields managing partner Rick van Aerssen said he was “delighted” to have achieved a sixth consecutive year of revenue growth” as he suggested the “robust set of results” are sign of the “strength and resilience” of Freshfields’ “long-term strategy”.
The boom has at the same time sparked a battle for talent amongst the City’s top firms, that has seen the salaries paid out to newly-qualified lawyers climb to heights of more than £100,000 a year.
In April, Freshfields itself outbid its Magic Circle rivals in upping pay for its freshly trained lawyers to £125,000 a year.
The firm – which is one of the oldest law firms in the world – was soon followed by its rival Clifford Chance, which matched Freshfields’ NQ payouts the following month.