Holman Fenwick Willan (HFW) has reported a strong year for net profit, which increased by 11 per cent to £42.1m in 2015/16.
Average profit per equity partner (PEP) also grew last year although it still lags behind its high of £545,000 in 2013/14. PEP now stands at £519,000, an increase of 5 per cent on the previous year.
Revenue increased by 3 per cent last year to £141.1m, up from £139m. HFW has been pushing to get its financials back on track after a dramatic reduction in both its top and bottom line in 2014/15, when revenue and profit fell 3 per cent and PEP dropped by 9 per cent.
HFW’s revenue and profit growth was achieved in a year that saw the firm make a large number of lateral hires and continue its expansion in China, Singapore and the Middle East through local associations.
Lateral hires in London last year include trade finance partner Philip Prowse from Clyde & Co, trade finance partner Stephen Marais from Ince & Co, insurance partner Christopher Cardona, who joined from Chadbourne & Parke, and corporate partners Giles Beale and James Wilson from Reed Smith.
In Asia Pacific the firm has also been expanding with lateral hires and team bolt-ons, including taking a seven-lawyer asset finance team led by two partners from Berwin Leighton Paisner in Singapore and Hong Kong.
HFW also sealed a number of local tie-ups in both Asia and the Middle East last year. In China, it became the second international firm to enter into a formal association with a Chinese firm under the Shanghai Free Trade Zone pilot scheme after Baker & McKenzie made a similar move. Its local partner firm Wintell & Co is a 20-partner boutique firm focusing on shipping, insurance and corporate law.
In Singapore, the firm launched a formal law alliance (FLA) with Singaporean firm AsiaLegal in July 2015. In the Middle East, the firm established three new associations at the beginning of this year to strengthen its offering in Riyadh, Beirut and Kuwait City, bringing its total number of lawyers working in the region to 40.
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