Revenue at the London branch of US firm King & Spalding (K&S) surged 16% to £27.2m in 2014 as the firm rapidly expanded its legal team.
The rise in revenue in London, up to £27.23m from £23.43m in 2013, helped the firm increase profits across its UK and France partnerships by 10% according to recent filings at Companies House. Profit increased to £13.06m in the 12 months to 31 December 2014 from £11.8m in 2013.
London outpaced its Paris counterpart as the firm’s French office experienced a 6% drop in revenue to £10.15m in 2014.
Revenue growth in the City was spurred by a sharp increase in the number of lawyers. Lawyer headcount across Paris and London rose by 40% from 35 in 2013 to 49 in 2014. A big contributor to this was the arrival of several high profile partners, which included Linklaters capital markets partner Tom O’Neill. The number of partners across the two offices from 23 to 29, while the total number of staff employed by K&S rose by 34% to 87.
K&S has continued its rapid expansion into 2015 with the addition of Berwin Leighton Paisner’s head of advocacy Stuart Isaacs QC in January, Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson’s London head of disputes Nick Cherryman in April and Allen & Overy’s former European head of US law, Thomas Jones earlier this month.
The firm’s managing partner Garry Pegg said ‘The firm is committed to its growth strategy in London and last year’s performance shows that we are progressing, which is encouraging in one of the most competitive legal markets in the world.’
tom.moore@legalease.co.uk
