Charles Russell Speechlys (CRS) grew its revenue 11% in the year to 30 April 2025 to £242.3m, fuelled by the expansion of its global private credit strategy.
The increase marks a slight dip from the previous year, when firmwide revenue grew 13% to £218.3m.
The bulk of the revenue was earned by the firm’s UK business, which has grown by 39% since 2020 and saw its topline rise 9% in FY25 to £190.3m. Meanwhile, profit per equity partner (PEP) increased from £661k to £681k and firmwide profits were up by 3.7%, from £45.8m to £47.5m.
The firm pointed to significant growth in Asia, where revenue was up 84%, as well as strong contributions from its European offices in Luxembourg, Paris, Milan and Switzerland. Overall international revenue growth stood at 18%.
Charles Russell Speechlys’ managing partner, Simon Ridpath, pointed to the firm’s focus on private capital and increasing international work as core revenue drivers.
“We are delighted with our growth this year, as our private capital strategy continues to flourish across our global business,” Ridpath said. “Internationalisation is key to our growth, with a focus on centres of wealth.
“We’ve added strategic hires in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, opened a new office in Milan, and invested in innovation and technology to better serve our clients. We’re committed to investing in our people and essential resources for best-in-class client service – a strategy we plan to maintain.”
The firm opened in Milan – its first location in Italy – late last year to service wealthy Italian families and the significant number of foreign ultra high net worth individuals relocating there, pulled by its flat tax regime and high quality of living.
The firm hired a pair of counsel from Italian tax boutique Maisto e Associati to staff the new office, and said it expected to further expand the team in the coming months.
Over the course of FY25, the firm added 15 partners and consultants globally across practice areas including litigation and disputes, corporate, M&A, corporate tax, financial services and funds, and real estate. Among them was Ahmad Anani, who joined in Doha last September from PwC as Middle East head of capital markets and regulation.
CRS also pointed to the growth of its new international tax team of US-qualified attorneys who can provide US legal advice to clients based in APAC, as well as the client solutions team it launched in April last year. Managed by Joe Cohen, who was Dentons’ head of innovation before joining CRS in late 2023, the group directs the firm’s strategy for innovation with generative AI to improve client support.
Last May, the firm rolled out its ‘Sidekick’ AI tool in all of its offices; it noted more than 93% of employees were using it, with an average of over 1,200 uses per day.
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