NOT STELLAR, but steady: that sums up 2005 for Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw (MBRM). Turnover inched up by 7.5 per cent from $911m (£500.54m) to $980m (£538.5m), while PEP rose by 5.5 per cent, from $905,000 (£497,000) to $955,000 (£525,000).

Litigation, corporate and finance held their own, with solid performances in telecoms and outsourcing in the US and regular representation of key clients such as Bank of America and Dow Chemicals.

MBRM’s direction in 2005 failed to dispel suspicions of insularity. The US still dominates the firm, accounting for three-quarters of its lawyers – a statistic that has barely changed since the 2002 merger of Mayer Brown & Platt with Rowe & Maw. Indeed, the biggest one-off hire was in the US with nine regulatory partners joining from Washington DC’s Crowell & Moring. There has, however, been a shift away from Chicago, with its historical headquarters no longer the firm’s most populous office.

The UK remains the major centre outside the US, turning over £83m. That puts it into the top 20 of London firms, but the figure is dwarfed internally by the firm’s global revenue. The UK typically handles solid deals in the mid-market for clients in the FTSE350 such as ICI, a client that has since been referred to other parts of the firm. Elsewhere, MBRM has been building its European profile in financial institutions, an area where it is strong in the US.

Germany, meanwhile, has begun to import and export clients and under Reinhart Lange has become a small but effective part of the global network. The trademark practice has been a good referrer of relationships, sending some Deutsche Telekom work to the US. The US practice has reciprocated, with referrals of litigation from Gillette, among others.

Internationally, after several months of talks, MBRM concluded an association with Italian firm Tonucci (announced in early 2006), which finally delivered representation in Rome and Milan.