Band of top 25 firms show strong five-year form but smaller rivals take growth crown

Bird & Bird, Clyde & Co, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and DLA Piper have emerged among the best-performing firms in the top 25 over the last five years, but Legal Week research confirms that many smaller firms have outpaced their larger rivals in growth terms.

Of the UK's top 25 law firms, Bird & Bird has seen the largest percentage jump in revenues since 2005-06, rising 121.9% from £96.7m five years ago to £214.6m in 2010-11.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Slaughter and May are the highest-ranked top 25 firms for profits per equity partner (PEP) growth over the period, with Freshfields boosting PEP from £830,000 in 2005-06 to £1.308m this year, a rise of 57.6%.

Freshfields managing partner Ted Burke (pictured) said: "Our success is mostly due to a very good regional and practice mix and hard work. Our restructuring in 2006 was in part a hangover of the mergers but there were other reasons as well.

"It was difficult to do, but it helped put us in a good position for the downturn. We've had pretty consistent success over the past few years, and though we're far from complacent, we're optimistic about our prospects."

However, the five-year breakdown confirms that many star performers outside the top 25 have achieved faster expansion than their larger rivals, with Kennedys and DWF respectively growing their top lines by 135.5% and 144.8% over the period.

Kennedys chief executive Guy Stobart said: "With regard to work areas, we will continue to stick to our knitting while looking for opportunities for closely adjacent practice areas, particularly for our insurance clients. We expect to continue to grow and have an appetite to do so across all of our business."

The results also illustrate how few large law firms sustain above-trend growth for a sustained period. Firms to have seen only modest growth or marginal falls in revenue include SNR Denton, legacy Hammonds, Addleshaw Goddard and Nabarro.