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Strong global performance at Clifford Chance

1 July 2014

Strong global performance at Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance has today announced its results for the year ended 30 April 2014.

  • Revenues were £1,359 million (USD2,1751 million; EUR1,6171 million), an increase of 7% year on year
  • Partnership profit was £459 million (USD735 million; EUR546 million), 14% higher than the previous financial year
  • Profit per equity partner was £1.14 million (USD1.83 million; EUR1.36 million), 16% higher than the previous financial year

The revenues were the highest ever reported by Clifford Chance, with all regions and all practices experiencing growth.

Matthew Layton, Clifford Chance Managing Partner commented:

"These are a strong set of results. They reflect the definite uptick in transactional markets we saw starting in the US over a year ago, and which has since extended to Europe and Asia Pacific.  Market and corporate confidence is just part of the picture; we are also benefiting from our long-term strategy of investment in the geographies and areas of expertise that are most important to our clients.  These more recent additions to the firm's offer are performing well, alongside our more established practices.

There is a shared sense of positive momentum around the firm.  The market-shaping work undertaken by our teams globally, demonstrates that we are building a firm that is really driven by - and answers to - client needs.  We're ambitious for what we want to achieve and we’re far from being complacent.  The fundamental shifts in the global business environment have huge implications for many of our clients, for the global legal industry and for us. I'm absolutely determined that we are not only going to stay at the forefront of the leading international firms but that we will set the standard for the next phase of the industry's development."

Highlights from the year included:

  • Successful and busy starts to the firm’s new operations in Saudi Arabia2 and Indonesia3
  • Good progress in broadening and deepening our client relationships:

o   We advised eight of the top 10 companies in the Fortune 500

o   Our largest 25 clients each worked with us across all six of our practice areas, and across more than 20 of our offices globally

o   We continued to diversify our client base, growing relationships with clients across our 12 priority sectors and developing newer clients, e.g. BG Group, Serco, AMC Networks, Pernod Ricard.

  • We acted on business and reputation-critical client matters, often reshaping global markets, for example, advising:

o   Dongfeng Motor Group Co. on its equity investment in PSA Peugeot Citroën Group, providing Europe’s second largest car maker with opportunities to expand its presence in China

o   Mondelez International on its combination with D.E. Master Blenders 1753 B.V. to create Jacobs Douwe Egberts, the world's leading pure-play coffee company

o   Shell on the European Commission investigation into Platts pricing

o   On landmark IPOs, including Banco do Brasil on the IPO of BB Seguridade, the largest offering of 2013; acting on four of the largest IPOs last year in Greater China; and on the IPO of the Empire State Realty Trust, owner of the iconic Empire State Building

o   Dangote Industries on financing for the largest industrial complex project in the history of Nigeria, expected to have a transformative effect on the country's economy.

  • Excellent market recognition – amongst a host of awards, Clifford Chance was named the number one law firm in Chambers Global Top 30, with more Band 1 rankings than any other firm.
  • We continued to make progress in our efforts to bring greater efficiency to our management of our business and our work for clients:

o   Continuous Improvement is increasingly embedded into our operations:

We have now completed or are finalising 100 projects, with participation from some 25 of our offices. Client involvement is a feature of many projects

Over 800 of our people have now been trained in Continuous Improvement, including more than 500 lawyers from across 12 offices

o   Our centre in India that provides transaction and case support further extended its reach across the firm, working with 31 of our offices globally, across almost 1500 matters.