King & Spalding posts double-digit PEP increase

Total revenue was up by 9 per cent from $718m to $781m while average profit per equity partner rose 12 per cent from $1.73m to $1.93m. Last year K&S had a total of 814 lawyers with 156 equity partners.

This is the third consecutive year that K&S achieved double-digit growth in average partner profit with a 16 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over three years.

The corresponding CAGR for both revenue and revenue per lawyer, which was $960,000 last year, for the same time period was 6 per cent.

K&S has grown significantly under current chairman Robert Hays. The firm is now preparing to launch a new five-year strategy at its AGM this weekend which is expected to target continued international growth along its core sectors such as energy, healthcare and pharma/biotech.

The firm’s previous five-year plan saw K&S grow from five offices to 17. Last year’s highlights include the opening of an office in Moscow in July with 14 lawyers (10 May 2011) and the addition of three new partners in London (Martin Hunt from Bracewell & Giuliani (7 April 2011), Suzanne Rab from Hogan Lovells and Tom Sprange from Steptoe & Johnson. The latter two launched competition and dispute resolution practices respectively in K&S’ City office.

The US firm also bulked up its presence in the Middle East with the addition of five lawyers in its offices in Dubai, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi (4 October 2011).

Highlight international deals include advising Ford on a $1.4bn joint venture in Russia with Sollers; representing Islamic Development Bank on its $750m issuance, the first dual sukuk listing, issued on the London Stock Exchange and Bursa Malaysia; and acting for Anadarko on a multibillion dollar LNG project in Mozambique.