The results are coming in and 2014 looks set to be a bumper year for US law firms. With deal activity picking up and greater economic stability in the UK and US, not to mention a positively booming market for financial regulatory work, these early indications are far from surprising.

Our analysis of the initial numbers piling in from the US (we've compared growth at 22 of the largest firms to have announced so far) show average revenue across the group rose by 5.8% to $1.23bn (