Sidley Austin UK revenue breaks £60m

Sidley Austin has reported a 12.4 per cent increase in turnover in London for the 2007 financial year.

The Chicago-based firm grew its London revenues from £55.03m at the end of 2006 up to £61.87m at the end of last year.

Sidley Austin London managing partner, Drew Scott, commented: "We are very pleased with the increase given what happened in the markets during the last five months of the year."

Scott added that London's growth was driven by the capital markets and corporate teams as well as the firm's new insurance group, which launched in the capital in May 2006 with the hire of DLA Piper's former insurance restructuring and insolvency partner Nigel Montgomery.

In July 2007 Montgomery was joined by Dorothy Cory-Wright from Kendall Freeman, who set up a London-based insurance and reinsurance disputes practice.

Sidley's head of global insurance James Stinson and partner Kenneth Wylie are both based in the firm's Chicago office but have spent a great deal of time in London working on the launch of the team in the UK.