HFW has posted record results for revenue and total profit in the third year of its current strategy, growing turnover by 8% to £270.8m in the 12 months to 31 March 2025 against a 2% rise in profit to £77.2m.
Profit per equity partner (PEP), however, fell from £855k in FY24 to £828k, though revenue per lawyer (RPL) grew 12% to £465k.
The firm noted that its revenue and profit have each grown by more than a third (36% and 42% respectively) since the introduction of its current growth strategy at the start of FY23, while PEP is up 24% over that same three-year period and its RPL is up 12%.
The strategy is intended to make 580-lawyer HFW the leading sector-focused law firm globally. All of its global groups – aerospace, commodities, construction, corporate and commercial, insurance and shipping – grew revenue in FY25.
“We have achieved significant growth as a firm over the past few years, and are proud of our people and grateful to our clients for their trust with their most complex, challenging matters,” HFW’s global senior partner, Giles Kavanagh, and managing partner, Jeremy Shebson, said in a joint statement.
They added the firm “will continue to look for opportunities to strengthen and broaden our offering to clients” as it works to realise its strategy.
The firm said its results had been driven by a combination of partner and team hires across its network and strong client demand for its sector expertise, particularly in complex matters. It has added 39 lateral partners since the beginning of FY23 – equivalent to around 20% of its total partnership – including 12 over the course of FY25.
FY25 highlights included representing insurers in the multi-billion dollar Russian aircraft insurance litigation before the UK, Irish and US courts; Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank in disputes totalling more than $1.5bn relating to the fraud suffered by NMC Healthcare; and Marsh in disputes relating to the collapse of Greensill Capital.
Another growth driver was the firm’s 21-office international network, which increased revenue 12% in FY25 – its third consecutive year of double-digit growth – and accounted for almost 60% of the firm’s total global revenue. HFW noted its international revenue has more than doubled since FY16.
Australia was a standout region, with revenue growing by a third in FY25 for the second year running. The firm has focused on growing its Australia bench over the past few years, following up large team hires across disputes and corporate in FY24 from Clyde & Co and MinterEllison, respectively, with four more partner hires in FY25.
In Perth, the firm hired construction disputes specialist Sean Marriott from Clifford Chance and energy M&A and projects lawyer Graeme Gamble from legacy Herbert Smith Freehills as part of its strategy to expand its global commodities practice. The firm also added a pair of restructuring partners from Australian firm Johnson Winter Slattery.
HFW also had a strong year in the Middle East, where it established a new entity in Saudi Arabia and brought in corporate partner Kashif Syed in Kuwait City as part of its bid to strengthen its transactional offering to complement its global disputes practice.
Other standout regions for the firm included London, where revenue has grown by more than a third in the past three years, and continental Europe, particularly Paris, which had another consecutive year of double-digit growth and added two teams in FY25 across international arbitration and ship and export finance from Eversheds Sutherland and Norton Rose Fulbright respectively.
The firm also pointed to a 21% revenue growth in its Piraeus office and “significant” growth in the British Virgin Islands, where it launched in 2022 with the acquisition of disputes business Lennox Paton.
HFW’s results are in line with other firms that have published their numbers so far as UK financial reporting season gets underway, with Kennedys growing revenue 13% to a new high of £428m and Anglo-Australian firm Ashurst by 8% to just over £1bn. The results are likely to have set the tone for a more robust set of results among the top 50 UK firms, given the upturn in global deal markets.
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