Dechert's top-earning London partner took home £3.8m last year, with UK operating profits rising by 43% after a strong year for the US firm.

The firm's newly filed limited liability partnership (LLP) accounts reveal that the share of profits available to 2017′s top-earning partner grew by 23% to £3.8m, up from last year's equivalent figure of £3.1m.

The Philadelphia-headquartered firm, which operates a single, global profit pool, saw operating profit for the UK LLP rise to £47.9m during 2017, up 43% from £33.5m last year, while turnover rose by nearly a quarter to £94.7m.

At the same time, staff costs increased 27% from £20.4m in 2016 to £25.9m, against a 13% increase in the average monthly number of employees from 235 to 265. The average monthly number of members crept up to 43 from 40 in 2016.

The LLP filing comes after Dechert announced its firmwide results for 2017 this February, with profit per equity partner up 5.3% to a new record high of $2.7m. Revenue rose by 7.3% during the year to reach $978m.

Key London laterals during 2017 included competition partner Alec Burnside, who joined with a team from Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft in January, litigator Stephen Surgeoner, who moved over from Clifford Chance in March, and a trio of former Kirkland & Ellis partners – Rob Bradshaw (finance), Christopher Field (corporate) and Jane Scobie (tax).

Camille Abousleiman, who chairs Dechert's London management committee, said: "Dechert's London office has delivered a strong performance, with significant profit growth, despite economic and political uncertainties. We remain optimistic about the capital's prospects and plan to expand our presence here."

The firm, which recently raised salaries for newly qualified London lawyers by 16% from £95,000 to £110,000, has continued to recruit in the City in 2018, taking on partners including Sidley Austin's global litigation co-head Dorothy Cory-Wright.