Bryan Cave boosts London revenue 22 per cent

Bryan Cave’s seven-partner London office has posted a 22 per cent rise in turnover for its 2006 financial year, with revenue up from £10.9m to £13.3m.

The revenue per lawyer in the 30 fee-earner office also showed impressive growth, up by nearly 17 per cent to £515,000 for 2006 compared with £440,000 in 2005.

London managing partner Anthony Fiducia said the past 12 months had been “very strong” both for the firm’s contentious and non-contentious groups.

The firm has bagged a run of High Court and foreign jurisdiction cases included acting for Rusal in its long-running litigation against the Tajikistan Aluminium Plant (TadAZ).

Highlights for the corporate group included acting for insurance broker Lockton on its acquisition of Alexander Forbes International Risk Services, a $170m (£90m) deal that made Bryan Cave client Lockton the largest independent, privately owned insurance broker in the world.

Other active corporate clients for Bryan Cave’s London office last year included Emerson, Sigma-Aldrich and Boeing.

Fiducia said he was optimistic that the current year would see Bryan Cave continue to grow in London.

“We intend to build up significant momentum in terms of hiring partners, counsel and associates,” he said, adding he expected headcount in London to increase by 20 per cent during the course of the year.