Fladgate has kicked off the UK law firm financial reporting season on an upbeat note by posting revenue growth of 10% for the 2022/23 financial year to £74m.

The results mean the London-based top 100 firm has grown revenue by 43% over the past two years. The firm said it would also be a record year for profit per equity partner (PEP), which it expects will exceed £930,000 for the year ending 31 March, up around 6% from last year’s 875k. 

Fladgate managing partner Grant Gordon said the firm had seen solid growth across its practice areas. 

“The current market opportunity for Fladgate, given its focus on premium work for fast-moving and entrepreneurial businesses and high-net-worth-individuals, has held up well. Indeed, given the nature of the businesses and individuals we work with, the ongoing economic challenges actually present quite a few opportunities for our clients and therefore for the firm.”

The firm, which is highly ranked by the Legal 500 for its work on matters including smaller M&A deals (worth up to £50m), immigration and gaming and betting, added 11 new partners over the previous financial year through a combination of lateral hires and internal promotions. 

The six partner laterals joined the firm’s finance funds and regulatory, real estate disputes, immigration, corporate, tech/IT and dispute resolution teams from rival firms including Reed Smith, DWF and Howard Kennedy. Fladgate said the hires were in line with its aim to rapidly build out skills and experience that complement its market position. 

Alongside the promotion of five senior associates to partner, Fladgate also promoted chief operating officer, David Rowe, to partner. 

Two years ago the firm introduced a new governance and leadership model to support its business plan. The model separated governance and oversight from the strategic and day-to-day running of the firm by establishing two new bodies – a governing board and an executive board. The former is led by the firm’s senior partner, Sunil Sheth, while the latter is headed by Gordon. 

The firm traditionally posts its provisional numbers well ahead of most top 100 UK firms, the bulk of which report in the second half of June and July. As has been the case among US firms, which have a calendar financial year, this year's UK financial results are expected to be signficantly more muted – and mixed – than in 2022, when the UK top 50 reported a 10.9% increase in revenue, according to Law.com.

Earlier this week, Dechert revealed it had started a redundancy process in London as part of plan to cut its global workforce by 5% in response to ‘existing and projected demand’. 

However, the Magic Circle firms Allen & Overy and Linklaters struck a more positive note last week when they raised newly qualified starting salaries by 16% from £107,500 to £125,000 having last year failed to match Clifford Chance and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in raising their rates, citing challenging market conditions.