| Turnover: | £257.7m |
| Profit per equity partner: | £398,000 |
| Revenue per lawyer: | £308,000 |
| Total number of lawyers: | 872 |
The past year was a momentous one for US firm Kirkpatrick & Lockhart. On 1 January 2005 it sealed its transatlantic merger with Nicholson Graham & Jones, a deal that kick-started the firm's growth strategy in some style.
In the current financial year, that strategy has gathered pace, with Kirkpatrick looking to seal a deal with Seattle-based Preston Gates & Ellis that would give it a significant foothold in Asia.
The 420-lawyer Preston Gates has offices in Hong Kong, Taipei and Beijing along with eight other sites in the US. The combined revenue of the merged firm would be around $650m (£357m).
In 2005 Kirkpatrick's firmwide turnover rose by 26 per cent, from $372.5m (£204.7m) to $468.9m (£257.7m), while average profit per equity partner also rose, reaching £398,000 ($724,000) globally.
The London outpost appears to have bedded down successfully, although the ending of a two-year integration period on 1 January 2007, under which UK equity partners were paid at guaranteed levels according to their respective levels on the lockstep, could potentially signal a degree of turbulence. From next year UK partners will be remunerated on the firmwide merit basis along with the rest of Kirkpatrick's partners.
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