Pinsent Masons reports further growth in 2016-17
International law firm Pinsent Masons has revealed an 11% increase in global turnover to £423.1m in its unaudited results for 2016-17, released today.
Excluding the impact of currency fluctuations, the firm achieved like-for-like turnover growth of 7% on the previous year.
Almost 85% of revenues were generated from clients operating in the firms' five global sectors, with the largest contributors being advanced manufacturing & technology (21%) and financial services (20%).
The year saw substantial investment including the opening of the firm's first office in Africa, appointing a six-strong partner team in Madrid, and plans to open a technology and financial services-focused practice in Dublin.
Pinsent Masons also expanded its legal resourcing hub Vario in to Australia, and acquired a 20% stake in "New Law" startup business Yuzu.
Ewan Alexander, partner and head of the firm's Edinburgh office, commented: “The results reflect a successful year in which Scotland’s largest infrastructure deal and Europe’s largest tech deals in the last 12 months were sourced and resourced by our Scottish corporate teams. To address increasing demand from investors for specialist fund capability, we recently recruited funds expert David Young and his appointment as a partner in insurance, regulation and products strengthens our financial services sector capability.”
Pinsent Masons managing partner, John Cleland, added: "We are expanding our business to support clients not just across a wider range of geographies and legal service lines, but also across alternative forms of delivery model which provide innovative ways to address the challenges they face. That we have been able to combine that growth with improved profitability gives us significant confidence going into what is an unpredictable year."
Over the year the firm brought to market its own proprietary artificial intelligence technology plus a suite of tools to help clients prepare for Brexit, and made 16 partner promotions, beating its target of achieving 25% female representation among its partnership by 2018 under its "Sky" programme.
In addition, 2016 saw the firm named as the top-ranked professional services firm in Stonewall's Workplace Equality Index and be named in The Times' Top 50 Employers for Women.