Childs 'pleased' despite drop in CC's growth rate

Clifford Chance global managing partner David Childs said he was pleased with the firm's 2007-08 financial performance, despite seeing a slowdown on the previous year's rate of growth.

Over the last financial year the firm saw revenue rise by 11.8 per cent to £1.33bn, while average profit per equity partner (PEP) jumped by 12.7 per cent to £1.15m, with plateau partners pocketing £1.32m. In the previous 12 months turnover rose by 15 per cent, while PEP increased by 25 per cent.

Childs said: "Given the slowdown in the second six months of the year, which generated much tougher market conditions, the overall rate of growth was very pleasing."

In terms of practice areas, Childs ;said ;corporate remains the main turnover driver, although he admitted that the practice was less busy than it was a year ago. That said, he added: "Corporate's still holding up pretty well, even in London and New York, where we have two very large M&A groups.

"The deal size is well down - there aren't many mega-deals - but we're still doing the smaller deals. Even the private equity team in London, which you'd expect to be much quieter, is still very busy."

London's contribution to overall turnover decreased slightly, with Asia, Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East contributing a combined total of 15 per cent, up from 12.5 per cent.

For more on the financial results at all the top firms as they come in, see our Top of the PEPs 2008 blog here