Linklaters Reports Record Year in Revenue with ‘High-End M&A’

UK firm Linklaters surpassed £1 billion in pre-tax profits for the first time last year on its highest-ever revenue as the economy grappled with tight credit and a tricky deals market.

The firm said its pre-tax profit was £1.08 billion ($1.46 billion) in the year ended April 30, which was 14% more than the previous comparable period. Profit per equity partner was £2.2m, up 15%. Linklaters generated £2.32 billion ($3.13 billion) in revenue, 10% more than in the previous year.

“Geopolitically and economically, the world is more uncertain than it’s been for a long time,” said Linklaters’ Firmwide Managing Partner Paul Lewis. “Every business leader has to deal with that, and those things can change quickly with either predicted or unpredictable consequences. But the reality is, for a well-positioned, diversified global law firm, there’s a huge amount of opportunity.”

Linklaters posted the results after ramping up its US practice with lateral hires from firms such as Patterson Belknap and Mayer Brown. It reported a 57% increase in its US profits, out-distancing net income performance in other core markets such as Asia at 13%, the UK at 8% and Europe at 3%.

The firm’s revenue in the US grew by 26%, compared to 24% last year.

The firm counts 27 global lateral hires since May last year, with 13 in the US. Those include a team of 11 lawyers from Patterson Belknap, including trial partners Adeel Mangi, Muhammad Faridi, Diana Conner and George LoBiondo.

M&A Work

Linklater’s increased revenue and profit is tied to practice areas including mergers and acquisitions, global contentious mandates, and complex financings, said Lewis, who was re-elected last month to another four-year term in his leadership position alongside Senior Partner Aedemar Comiskey.

“We tend to focus on high-end M&A: It’s absolutely clear it’s one of our absolute blue-ribbon products that has done phenomenally well over the year,” Lewis said. “In the US you’ve seen a good deal of crossover type of work like VW and Rivian, and Rio and Arcadium.”

The London “Magic Circle” firm ranked ninth in Bloomberg Law’s M&A league tables, placing it among top US Big Law firms in 2024, but slipped out of the top 20 firms in the first half of 2025, as lawyers and clients grappled with fluctuating valuations and tariffs under the new Trump administration.

A team consisting of Linklaters Germany and US lawyers guided the Volkswagen Group on its plans to invest up to $5.8 billion in Rivian Automotive in November. In October, the firm guided Rio Tinto on its plans to purchase Arcadium Lithium for $6.7 billion.

The firm’s public M&A team “has been very, very busy” based on the trajectory going into this year, Lewis said. “There’s a few deals that may or may not happen, but you only need one or two that will absolutely change the picture on that.”