Fieldfisher has reported a modest 3% gain in profit per equity partner (PEP) in its latest financial results, hitting £1m as firm-wide revenue, including that of its verein structure, inched up 1% to £385m on an annualised basis.
The results cover the 12 months to 31 March 2025, when the integrated Fieldfisher firm delivered revenue of £364m, a 10% increase on an annualised basis.
The year before, Fieldfisher reported 11 months of trading, due to the HMRC basis period reform change, which prompted it to change its financial year-end to 31 March 2024. The firm’s comparative revenues have therefore been annualised to better compare performance between the two years.
Robert Shooter, who began a second term as Fieldfisher’s managing partner in April, said it had been a period of “strategic transformation and investment” for the firm.
“We have expanded our European presence, adding new offices in Austria, Italy, Poland and Portugal to our network in the last two years,” Shooter said. “We have also made significant investments in our premises in Hamburg, Berlin and Dublin, with the Birmingham office move and the refurbishment of our London headquarters taking place later this year.
“Our focus on growth in our chosen sectors and key areas of expertise has driven our recruitment of 20 new partners across our international network.”
The firm said it had grown revenue across all its departments, with double-digit increases in the regulatory, IP, tax, real estate and personal injury and medical negligence practices. Its four core sectors – energy and natural resources, financial services, life sciences and technology – achieved combined growth of 31% in the last financial year.
Fieldfisher reported growth across its European network, with double-digit increases in Austria and Italy, as well as in Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. The firm, which aims to become Europe’s leading law firm, now operates 27 offices across 14 European countries.
Fieldfisher noted that structural changes to its verein after the exit of its Italian member firm in 2024, when Fieldfisher launched an integrated office in Milan, had impacted its latest results, but that the success of its Europe strategy was demonstrated by “the continued growth of existing offices and the double-digit growth in the newly-opened offices”.
Fieldfisher Italy was a standout performer with the office exceeding its target by 84%, a result Fieldfisher said lessened the short-term impact of the departure of the verein firm, which rebranded as WST.
The overall performance of Fieldfisher’s existing verein firms in China, Spain and the Netherlands was also strong; comparing their performance on an annualised basis between the last two years, they collectively achieved 20% revenue growth.
The firm’s lateral partner hires over the course of the year focused on investments in key locations in Europe, including in London, where the firm recruited Hausfeld’s former head of commercial disputes, John McElroy, last July.
Financial markets and products partners Emma Dwyer and Laetitia Costa also joined in London, respectively from legacy Allen & Overy and a role as the founder of a private credit platform.
Elsewhere, technology and data partners Martin Diesbach, Gerd Hansen and Elisabeth Noltenius joined the firm’s Munich and Berlin offices; Diesbach and Noltenius from German firm SKW Schwarz and Hansen from an in-house role at Sky.
Work highlights over the course of the year included advising Getty Images in its closely watched dispute with Stability AI over alleged copyright infringement and Google in its successful defence of trade mark infringement and passing off claims related to YouTube Shorts.
The firm’s disputes team is acting in the largest-value fraud trial ever brought in the Commercial Court, advising Mikhail Rabinovich as a defendant in a $14bn case.
The firm also acted for Canary Wharf Group on the development of Europe’s largest life sciences building, as well as Quantum Base – a quantum science company specialising in anti-counterfeiting technology – on its IPO, and Winch Energy on an off-grid renewable energy project in Sierra Leone.
The 2025 financial year also saw litigation partner and sanctions expert Vivien Davies elected as Fieldfisher’s new senior partner. Davies took over on 1 April from David Wilkinson, who had held the role since 2019.
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