Bird & Bird tops five-year revenue rankings while Freshfields and Stephenson Harwood double PEP over period

Bird & Bird has emerged as the fastest-growing UK top 50 law firm over the last five years, with turnover leaping by more than 150% since 2004-05.

After posting rising revenues for each of the last five financial years, Bird & Bird's 2009-10 revenues of £201.8m mark a 151% growth on the law firm's 2004-05 performance, when turnover stood at just £80.4m.

Trowers & Hamlins is the next fastest-growing firm, recording a 102.3% increase in revenues over the period. Insurance trio Holman Fenwick Willan, Clyde & Co and Ince & Co have also seen strong growth in recent years, improving revenues by more than 80%.

Allen & Overy is the fastest-growing magic circle firm, seeing an increase of 57.7% over the last five years, with Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer recording growth of 47% and 46.3% respectively, while Clifford Chance grew by 31%.

Bird & Bird chief executive David Kerr (pictured) said: "I am not surprised by the results, which can be traced back to our considerable expansion in Western Europe and Asia. What has also contributed to these results is the fact that we have a single partnership worldwide."

Hammonds is the only firm to have seen an overall decline in turnover, dropping 7.5% between 2004-05 – when the firm brought in £127.6m – and 2009-10, when it took £118m.

By contrast, the firm put in one of the strongest performances for profits per equity partner (PEP), which have grown 78.4% since 2004-05 when PEP stood at £204,000. Hammonds' PEP for this financial year stands at £364,000.

Freshfields had the strongest overall PEP growth, with this year's figure of £1.4m double (100.9%) the £700,000 it saw five years ago. The magic circle firm was followed by Stephenson Harwood, which has grown PEP by 100.4% over the five-year period and Trowers by 98.9%.

Freshfields chief executive Ted Burke commented: "The last few years have been interesting – too interesting for most. It has forced all law firms to adapt very quickly to changing circumstances and client needs. We think that we have adapted pretty well and we know that we will have to continue to adapt."

However, the figures also show that PEP at a number of UK firms has dropped significantly, with Shoosmiths seeing the largest decline of 25.1%, followed by SJ Berwin, Nabarro, Barlow Lyde & Gilbert and Berwin Leighton Paisner, which all recorded PEP drops of more than 20% since 2004-05.

Nabarro senior partner Simon Johnston said: "It is not surprising that our PEP has dropped in the last five years – we came into the recession slightly later than many other firms and started to come out of it later. However, we are now well-positioned for growth and will continue to look carefully at our investment in the firm."

Click here for the full table of results.

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