K&L Gates’ London revenue dipped by 1 per cent over 2015, while the firm’s global turnover went down by nearly 8 per cent.

The US firm’s London office generated revenue of £44.4m last year, as opposed to £44.96m in 2014. Administrative partner Tony Griffiths said London had performed well over 2015, with the firm “almost matching our record revenue performance in 2014, against the backdrop of challenging market conditions”.

The reduction in London revenue came as the firm saw its global turnover drop from $1.15bn to $1.06bn. It attributed the dip to the effects of the strengthening US dollar, as well as an 11 per cent reduction in average lawyer headcount from 2,040 to 1,808. On a like-for-like basis, revenue in fact declined by 4.6 per cent, according to the firm.

The Americas continued to make up the majority of firmwide turnover, accounting for 78 per cent of total revenue. The firm produced $830m in this region, an increase of 6 per cent from 2014.

Meanwhile turnover declined by 5.7 per cent in Europe and the Middle East to $114m. K&L Gates said this would have been an increase of 3.2 per cent on a like-for-like basis. The Asia-Pacific region saw the largest decline in revenue of 14.8 per cent to $121m, or 2 per cent on a foreign exchange neutral basis.

Average profit per equity partner (PEP) rose just over 5.3 per cent during 2015 from $829,000 to $873,000, following a dip in PEP of 0.4 per cent in 2014. Partner headcount declined 16 per cent from 252 to 210.