Comprising of the firm’s senior and managing partners, global practice group heads and support directors, salaries and profit share for Allen & Over’s management team lifted 7 per cent last year from £12.7m to £13.6m. However, the individual take-home for the firm’s highest paid partner was ever so slightly down in 2015/16, from £2.9m the year prior to £2.8m. Total staff costs were up 6 per cent business-wide to £457m, reflecting an increase in total headcount from 4,422 to 4,532 (including 100 new fee-earners) and an increase in total compensation. The growth in fee-earner headcount has also been cited by Allen & Overy as a factor underpinning the firm’s £14m drop in net profit last year to £540m. Despite the growth in total staff, the firm’s partner headcount fell slightly last year, to an average of 523 from 526 in 2014/15.

Sources: The Lawyer; Legal Week