Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has reported record financial results for its London office, with UK revenue rising by 40 per cent from £26.2m to £36.8m and its City profit margin hitting 73.5 per cent.

The significant increase in revenue for the 2015 financial year follows a 33 per cent bounce back in London office revenue for 2014, when turnover rose to £26.2m from £19.8m in 2013. That increase came off the back of a 28 per cent drop in turnover between 2012 and 2013.

The firm’s profit margin in London last year stood at 73.5 per cent or £27.1m, a rise of 51 per cent from £17.9m in 2014 and 118.5 per cent from £12.4m in 2013. Quinn Emanuel’s London profit margin is now at its highest-ever level since the US firm opened in the UK.

Richard East Quinn Emanuel
Richard East

Last year Quinn Emanuel’s 14-partner, 32-lawyer London office had its busiest on record in terms of matters. Among several highlight cases in the UK last year a team led by Quinn Emanuel London co-managing partner Richard East represented the investors in an $835m ongoing dispute relating to the collapse of Portugese bank Banco Espirito Santo.

Quinn Emanuel is also currently acting for one of the designated lead claimant groups in the £4bn RBS rights issue litigation, one of the largest cases currently before the UK courts, with trial set for spring 2017. Partner Martin Davies is leading the claim for the Prudential, Legal & General, Standard Life, Aviva and the Universities Superannuation Scheme.

Quinn’s London office has also been instructed by Phones 4U administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers to investigate the conduct of the company’s former directors, and is gearing up to be among one of the first firms to launch a foreign-exchange rigging related claim against a major global bank in the London courts.

During the year the firm brought in two laterals with Hausfeld competition partner Boris Bronfentrinker joining during 2015 and litigation partner Nick Marsh also joining from DLA Piper. The firm recently hired Paul Friedman, who is due to start during 2016, from Clyde & Co.

The firm also made up international arbitration lawyer Epaminontas Triantafilou to partner at the start of this year as part of a nine-lawyer annual promotions round.

Last month Quinn Emanuel confirmed that it had boosted its associate salaries at all levels, with newly qualified solicitors now receiving a salary of £99,500, a £2,000 increase, and 1PQEs getting a £3,000 uplift to £108,000.

The firm did not comment on its financial results. Firm-wide financial results for Quinn Emanuel are not yet available.