Dentons LLP accounts for the UK, Middle East and Africa have revealed the firm’s revenue increased by 6% for the 2014/15 financial year to £157m from £148m, while overall profit before taxation climbed about 12% to £42.4m from £37.9m.
The LLP covers a spread of offices including London, Milton Keynes, Amman, Abu Dhabi, Singapore and Tashkent, with the firm attributing its performance to transactional activity being ‘significantly higher’ in the UK while it continued ‘to focus our activity through our chosen geographies and sectors.’
Profit for the financial year available for discretionary division among members took a 12% drop from £3.9m to £3.4m, and staff costs rose by 4% from £72.8m to £75.8m.
The estimated entitlement of the highest paid member for the current year stood at £838,000, a significant increase the previous year’s figure of £703,000. The figures in the LLP accounts do not necessarily equate to the highest paid equity member and can relate to ‘golden handshakes’ to retiring members.
Wages and salaries rose to £52m from £49m and the number of fee earners and administrative staff rose to 858 from 846.
It’s been a year of accelerated growth for the world’s largest law firm by lawyer headcount. Following its audacious tie-up with China’s Dacheng in January 2015, it brought Australia’s Gadens and Singapore’s Rodyk & Davidson into the Dentons fold, adding another 700 lawyers to its Asia-Pacific platform.
In December Colombia’s Cárdenas y Cárdenas and Mexico’s López Velarde, Heftye y Soria agreed to become the ninth and tenth verein members of Denton. More deals are expected in Latin America and few would be surprised if Dentons pursued another major UK tie-up.
sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk
For more on Dentons, see our analysis: ‘The pitch’, and the comment piece: ‘Comment: Doing something radical – how Dentons sort of won me over.’