Stephenson Harwood beats budget with £100m in turnover

Total fee income for the year stood a £107m, up from last year’s figure of £91.9m and the £85.1m brought in during 2008-09. Over a two-year period, Stephenson Harwood has increased revenue by more than 25 per cent.

Chief executive Sharon White told The Lawyer: “The thing that’s pleasing is that our performance hasn’t dropped back, but grown consistently over the last couple of years.

“We were pretty pleased last year to break through £90m and we budgeted to break £100m this year, but to do it so comfortably is great. Our Asian offices in particular have done extremely well.”

The firm’s London office saw a 14 per cent turnover increase, while its Greater China practice enjoyed a 20 per cent hike. Income in Paris leapt by 72 per cent after the firm hired a two-partner team from Norton Rose, doubling headcount in the office.

In Singapore, revenue increased by a third, jumping from £5.2m in 2009-10 to just under £7m despite the firm not adding any partners to the office.

Last year’s 8 per cent revenue increase came alongside an 8 per cent fall in profit per equity partner (PEP) (22 June 2010). The firm has yet to release profit figures for this year.

White added: “I think it’ll be a good year for us.”

In practice area terms, commercial litigation was up 22 per cent, finance by 19 per cent and corporate finance by 11 per cent.