Linklaters’ revenue has climbed 11% to £2.32bn as it reports a strong performance across its core markets and accelerated growth in the US.
The UK Magic Circle firm’s record revenue figure was matched by its highest-ever pre-tax profit of £1.08bn, up by 14%. That translated into a 15% increase in its profit per equity partner (PEP) to £2.2m.
Linklaters pointed to a strong performance in the US, where it said profit for its financial year ending on 30 April was up by 57%.
Paul Lewis, firmwide managing partner, commented: “We have a clear vision and strategy to put us in the strongest position to win the most complex, cross-border mandates for the world’s leading corporates, banks, funds and financial sponsors.
“Our FY25 results and our performance in industry league tables reflect the progress we have made and the strength of our global platform. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our teams across our global network for their hard work and for delivering exceptional results for our clients.”
Linklaters’ corporate practice advised on $211bn worth of deals in 2024 and the firm said this momentum had continued into 2025. That included advising Dow on its $6bn partnership with Macquarie Asset Management to launch Diamond Infrastructure Solutions and Rio Tinto on its $6.7bn acquisition of Arcadium Lithium.
The corporate team was also involved in some of the biggest IPOs in the market, including acting for the underwriters on CATL’s $5.3bn Hong Kong stock exchange debut.
Linklaters also pointed to significant demand for complex financing and R&I work, as well as strong deal flow across project financings, driven by corporate lending, structured finance and leveraged finance, and its roles on many of the largest financings and fundraisings in the market.
That included advising on the £2.85bn financing for the recommended offer for Royal Mail parent IDS.
On the contentious side, the firm noted a particularly strong year for competition litigation, with high-profile work representing Visa in its interchange fee case and Sony Interactive Entertainment in class actions relating to the PlayStation Store.
Over the course of the year, the firm promoted 34 lawyers to partner and made 27 lateral partner hires globally, including 13 in the US.
Linklaters’ undoubted highlights in terms of US laterals were a quartet of partners from New York litigation boutique Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler and a team of senior finance partners who joined from A&O Shearman, including David Lucking, who had been global co-head of its financial markets practice.
That followed the hire of a six-strong M&A team in New York from legacy Shearman & Sterling at the start of 2024 led by rainmaker George Casey, who was appointed as its first chairman of the Americas last month.
However, its US partner count of 53 remains substantially smaller than that of rivals Freshfields (107) and Clifford Chance (120), according to publicly available data tracked by Pirical. Leading the Magic Circle pack by a large margin, meanwhile, is A&O Shearman, which, despite a number of senior exits, still has 170 partners in the US.
Linklaters is the first Magic Circle UK firm to post its financial results, with A&O Shearman and Clifford Chance due to report in the coming days. Freshfields, however, said in 2023 that it would no longer take part in the annual UK results reporting season.
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