White & Case’s London revenue has grown 3.5 per cent to $290m (£231m) amid a global turnover hike of nearly 7 per cent to $1.6bn.
Last year White & Case dislodged Latham & Watkins in The Lawyer’s annual International Top 30 ranking, having posted an 18 per cent rise in UK revenue from $240m to $283m. Latham & Watkins’ 2016 financials have not yet been released.
London executive partner Oliver Brettle singled out several highlights in the City last year, including the promotion of eight City lawyers to partner and the hire of 10 new laterals.
Macfarlanes competition head Marc Israel joined White & Case, as well as Clifford Chance corporate partner Patrick Sarch and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer banking partner Jeffrey Rubinoff. Ashurst partners Jonathan Parry and Mark Clarke also joined the capital markets and litigation teams respectively, with Hogan Lovells partner Guy Potel sitting in corporate.
“We’ve made a number of investments in London and globally that are consistent with our strategy,” Brettle said.
“The US did particularly well last year, but our London and European offices have also been growing working on deals across the wider network and domestically.”
Globally, White & Case’s turnover grew nearly 7 per cent over 2016 from $1.52bn to $1.63bn. The figures take into account new office launches in Boston and Cairo. The firm also hired partners from Herbert Smith Freehills to launch in Melbourne and Sydney. HSF has filed a lawsuit at the Sydney courts against eight Australian partners who exited the firm for White & Case last year.
Average profit per equity partner growth was slightly slower, nudging up 1.5 per cent from $2.02m to $2.05m.
Headcount rose across the board, with the number of equity partners increasing by 12 to 299. Lawyer numbers also rose from 1,914 to 1,957.
Over 2015 White & Case saw its revenue climb 1 per cent. The firm is now in the second year of its five-year strategy that prioritises growth in London and the US across a number of different practice areas.
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