McDermott Will & Emery

McDermott Will & Emery's LLP accounts have shown a lower revenue growth figure for the London office than the firm originally stated earlier this year.

According to the firm's U.K. accounts filed at Companies House, turnover grew from £28.6 million in 2017 to £32 million up in 2018, a 12% increase.

The firm attributed the difference in figures to the firm's global accounts, published back in February, being reported on cash basis, while figures for Companies House are reported on an accrual basis.

The LLP figures follow the firm's announcement in March that its London revenues had grown by 40% in 2018, from $29.5 million – which converts to £23 million according to exchange rates from the end of December 2018 – to $41 million, which would currently work out as £32 million in sterling.

While a revenue increase from £23 million to £32 million would have constituted a growth rate of 40%, the figures do not align with the LLP accounts' 2017 figure of £28.6 million.

The new figures show that the U.S. firm's London office did not see as much growth in 2018 as in 2017 when, according to its accounts, turnover rose by 25% year on year.

A spokesperson for McDermott said in a written statement: "The AmLaw numbers are accurate and reflect our performance both in London and on a firm-wide basis. The AmLaw numbers were generated using cash-based accounting and the Companies House numbers used accrual-based accounting.

"The fact that the 2018 AmLaw number of £32 million is the same as the Companies House number is purely a coincidence as they were generated using two distinctly different accounting methods. The variances between the AmLaw and Companies House numbers are the result of the two different accounting methodologies and suggesting they are similar is like comparing apples and oranges."

Pay for McDermott Will & Emery's U.K. management team, meanwhile, increased by 22% in the last financial year, so that members took home £9.22 million between them, compared with £7.55 million in 2017.

Pay for the average U.K. partner also rose by 19% during the course of the year to just under £500,000, as partner headcount rose by two, while the top-paid U.K. partner brought home £1.24 million, a 12.7% increase on 2017's figure of £1.1 million.

McDermott made several hires during the 2018 financial year, including Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner structured finance partner Rachel Kelly and counsel Kerry Pettigrew, and DLA Piper City real estate partners Laurence Rogers, Neville Wright and Tom Calnan. The firm also made up two partners in its London office.