A&O Shearman has reported flat revenue of $3.7bn in the year to 30 April, as profit per equity partner (PEP) rose 12% to $2.9m following a post-merger period of partner cuts and senior exits.
Revenue held steady in dollars but fell slightly in pound sterling to £2.8bn from £2.9bn in FY25. Meanwhile, PEP was equivalent to £2.2m, matching the amount handed out by legacy Allen & Overy in the year before its merger with Shearman & Sterling went live in 2024 to create 4,000-lawyer A&O Shearman.
Profit before tax rose 14% to $1.6bn (£1.2bn), with the firm noting its revenue per partner was up 11.3%.
A&O Shearman said the results followed a period of “deliberate reshaping”, adding that two years on from the merger, it was “more profitable, more focused and advising on a greater share of its clients’ most significant matters”.
“These results show our strategy taking hold,” said Hervé Ekué, A&O Shearman’s global managing partner. “Clients are entrusting us with more of their most important and complex mandates. Combined with the way we have streamlined our operation, our profitability has grown significantly. We are a more profitable firm, with a stronger base for sustainable growth.”
The firm announced in September 2024 that it would axe 10% of its then 800-strong partnership and would also shutter its Johannesburg office and consulting arm.
During this period, it also saw a string of highly regarded veterans and practice heads leave on both sides of the Atlantic for rival firms, including Paul Weiss, Latham & Watkins and Sullivan & Cromwell.
There have also been some notable departures this year, with Weil announcing in June that it had hired London-based Fiona Cumming, formerly A&O Shearman’s private capital sector co-lead and co-head of its global fund finance practice. Earlier in the year, Helen Christakos left her role as the head of the firm’s US data privacy group to join Norton Rose Fulbright.
A&O Shearman, however, said it had made 24 lateral hires over the course of FY26, as well as boosting its partnership with a 33-strong internal promotions round in April that was dominated by M&A and finance.
Key hires have included Jan Sysel in New York from Fried Frank to lead its US fund finance practice and Japanese-qualified debt finance partner Rintaro Hirano in Tokyo from Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu, in a move it said marked the first time a finance partner moved from a Big Four Japanese law firm to an international firm.
Highlight mandates include acting for Genmab on its $8bn acquisition of Merus and Boston Scientific on its proposed $15bn acquisition of Penumbra. In private capital, it advised Partners Group on the acquisition of Techem and the arrangers on InPost’s €7.8bn take-private financing, while on the consumer side it advised JDE Peet’s on the €15.7bn recommended public offer by Keurig Dr Pepper.
In disputes, the firm secured a landmark settlement for UBS, ending a 14-year litigation in France and also represented Reflex Media and Clover8 Investments in a major trademark infringement jury trial win against SuccessfulMatch.com.
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