Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy has become the latest firm to announce its London revenues, which rose by nearly $4m to $114.1m in 2016, 4% up on the $110.2m achieved in 2015. Growth in the City has been slower this year for the US firm, which posted a 6% rise last year.
The firm’s City office now accounts for 13% of the Milbank’s total global revenue. Milbank London co-managing partner Julian Stait said: ‘Last year we had a number of laterals who added to the revenue growth, while this year we haven’t made any further investment in new partners and teams so the growth was more steady. All in all, it was another good year for London and matched the trajectory of the firm.’
Turnover at the US firm grew by 11% last year to $855m, up $84m on the $771m the firm generated last year. Profits per equity partner (PEP) also increased by 13% to $3.1m. This brings strong growth after a lacklustre 2015, when the firm showed flat results in some of its key markets and only grew by 1% both in PEP and revenue figures.
Globally, the lawyer headcount and the equity partner numbers at the firm both increased by 2% last year. Overall headcount rose to 664 from 649 the year before, while the equity partner numbers increased to 149 in 2016.
The global rise also follows a series of high-profile hires last year, among them several from Allen & Overy including private equity (PE) partner Michael Bernhardt who joined the firm’s corporate department in Frankfurt and a three-partner team in New York, including the firm’s US senior partner Kevin O’Shea.
Meanwhile, last June PwC Legal hired former Milbank partner Laetitia Costa to run its banking and finance team in London.
Notable wins for Milbank in London in 2016 include getting a seat on Swiss private equity house Partners Group’s legal panel, and advising Nabors Industries on its joint venture with the Saudi Aramco.
Milbank’s City results come as White & Case’s London office saw a 4% increase in revenue sitting at around $290m while Cooley reached $47m only two years after opening in the City. King & Spalding also saw revenue increase by nearly 4% to $1.06bn as its PEP dipped 2% to nearly $2.5m.
georgiana.tudor@legalease.co.uk