Racine grows while Veil Jourde is static in 2005

French litigation and corporate boutique Racine is celebrating a fifth successive year of growth, with turnover above the ?10m (£6.8m) mark for the first time.

Racine recorded revenues of ?12m (£8.2m) for 2005, a rise of 17 per cent from the previous year.

Managing partner Bruno Cavalié said Racine had now enjoyed average annual growth of 27 per cent over the past five years.

Meanwhile, rival Veil Jourde has had a static year in terms of revenue, bringing in ?16m (£10.9m) in both 2004 and 2005.

But managing partner Jean Veil said the results were encouraging, coming after two years in which teams left for other firms. He told The Lawyer that profitability was rising, and added: "Everything's going well."

Veil Jourde lost a team led by corporate partner Patrick Jaïs to Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson in January 2005. The departures came just six months after the firm's employment team of Marie-Alice Jourde and Dominique de la Garanderie quit to go to Ginestié Paley-Vincent & Associés (now Ginestié Magellan Paley-Vincent).