The numbers
Number of offices: 26 offices in 19 countries at 1 November 2008
At 30 April 2008:
Number of practising partners: 528
Number of qualified lawyers, including partners: 2,343
Total staff: 5,591
For the year ended 30 April 2008:
revenue increased by 15.3% to £1.293bn
pre-tax profit increased by 15.1% to £564m
average profit per equity partner rose by 11.3% to £1.44m †
70% of our work was on multi-country/multi-practice matters
† Based on sterling profit remittances
Who we are, what we do
As one of the leading global business law firms, we enable the world’s top companies, financial institutions and governments to achieve their objectives, helping them to solve their most complex and important business issues.
We divide our work into three broad divisions: Corporate; Finance and Projects; and Commercial. However, in practice our advice invariably involves more than one division.
Corporate
Our corporate division is recognised as a world leader in mergers, acquisitions, flotations, joint ventures and private equity. These are often pioneering deals. While many people associate corporate law with mergers, acquisitions and private equity, there are many other types of expertise at work here. Lawyers specialising in anti-trust/competition, employment, pensions and incentives help companies with some of the toughest issues facing modern business.
Finance and Projects
Our finance team acts for arranging banks, lenders, credit enhancers and borrowers to establish funding for a wide range of industrial and financial sector transactions. Lawyers in our projects team advise on the development of some of the highest-profile energy and infrastructure projects around the world.
Commercial
Our commercial division offers a broad range of expertise including litigation and dispute resolution, intellectual property, real estate and construction, tax, environment and planning, technology, media and telecommunications, and trusts. Most of the time, we advise corporate and financial institutions, but our trusts lawyers also work with individuals, charities and trustees.