Ashurst has announced a massive 36% surge in average profits per equity partner (PEP), with the top 10 City firm’s average PEP approaching now approaching the £1m mark.
Partners will now draw an average of £956,000, up from £701,000 last year, following the firm’s announcement of a 28.5% increase in turnover to £275m.
The increase in profits, by far the best result of any top City firm to announce its figures so far this year, means the firm’s 10-year lockstep now peaks at £1.2m, up from £875,000 last year. Partners at the bottom of the lockstep now stand to earn £480,000, an improvement from £350,000 last year.
It is the second year of strong profitability growth for Ashurst, which last year saw its PEP grow by 23.6%.
Ashurst’s results mean its PEP is only marginally behind magic circle firms Clifford Chance and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, where average profits now stand at £1.015m and £1.036m respectively. But its rate of growth far exceeds both firms, which each reported a 25% increase.
Managing partner Simon Bromwich admitted that the increase in PEP was better than the firm had expected but said it came after a year of strong performances across all offices and practices.
Over the last 12 months Ashurst has recruited a number of lateral partners and promoted 20 partners internally. In January it launched a new office in Stockholm through a merger with local M&A boutique AJB Bergh.
Commenting on the results, Bromwich told Legal Week: “This cannot be attributed to any one thing - it’s a combination of all our investment coming together. We have brought in a lot of laterals over the last 12-18 months and they have now settled in. Outside London, our German practice has been transformed and is now a significant player in the market."
He added: "Two years [of] strong growth is good for the health of the firm and its reputation here and internationally.”
Do these results catapult Ashurst to a new level among the City elite? Have your say with the Legal Week Wiki 2007 results special.