DLA Piper reveals 8 per cent turnover rise for 2012

Revenue at the firm increased by around 8.4 per cent in the 2012 calendar year, from $2.25bn to $2.44bn. But revenue per lawyer stayed still, rising by less than 1 per cent to $605,000.

Also throughout the 2012 calendar year, lawyer headcount increased by 291, up to 4,036, although there were only three new equity partners at the firm, taking the total to just over 461.

The news comes as DLA Piper’s International LLP accounts revealed that the firm’s top earner, who is understood to be joint chief executive Sir Nigel Knowles, received £1.7m in the 2011/12 financial year, a small increase on the previous year (4 February 2013).

Earlier this month, DLA Piper confirmed that it would shut its Glasgow office in the coming months and hive off its defendant insurance practices following a collective consultation (24 January 2013). Hill Dickinson has since agreed to take on DLA Piper’s Manchester and Sheffield defendant insurance practices (28 January 2013), though the Birmingham practice remains without a home.