Mishcon de Reya Magic: Revenue soars to £300m despite profit blip
London-based law firm Mishcon de Reya’s revenue has surpassed £300m, despite a slight dip in profits due to a recent merger.
Over the last financial year, Mishcon de Reya’s revenue increased by 17 per cent from £255m over 2022/23, to £300m for 2023/24.
However, the firm’s profits dropped by £3m as it generated £90m over 2023/24, down from the previous results of £93m.
As managing partner James Libson told City PM the “principal” reason was the integration of Taylor Vinters, which it merged with January 2021.
“During the course of last year, [we were] running two London offices for a short period of time, fitting out the Cambridge office and… some inevitable integration costs,” he explained.
Libson noted that the firm “always anticipated that the profitability would be affected that year”.
This year, Mishcon put its foot into the alternative legal services market after acquiring flexible legal resourcing business Flex Legal in January. In February it revealed its acquisition of a majority stake in a group actions management business, Somos.
Unlike other law firms in the market, the firm doesn’t report its profits per equity partner (PEP) anymore, as it stated its “overall profit” “is a better measure of the performance of the firm”. Libson told City PM, that the group is not far off 25 per cent of the headcount not part of the law firm.
Libson stated: “We are absolutely delighted with what we’ve achieved this year.”
He noted that Q1 has been “really good” and anticipates “another significant hike in the revenue” between “10 to 15 per cent” for its next results. He also added that he sees a “return to the profitability figures, [that are] even better than the year before.”
The firm reported that it was its employment, dispute resolution and private practices that “had especially strong performance for both revenue growth and profitability”.
Its innovation practice was also boosted by a full year’s contribution from the merger with Taylor Vinters, and the transactional teams in corporate and real estate continued to “perform strongly”, despite the economy.
“We can look back at the execution of our 10-year vision with much pride as we begin to think about the next phase of our strategic journey,” Libson added.
As that 10-year vision nears an end, the firm will be reviewing its next strategy, however, this time it won’t be a 10-year view, as they say the “horizon will be shorter”.