Turnover nudges up 2 per cent at Olswang

The firm said it was yet to finalise profit figures, but there was likely to be a “modest increase” in average profit per equity partner (PEP) from the 2009-10 figure of £420,000.

In particular Olswang’s emphasis on internationalisation has delivered, with the firm’s European offices all reporting “above average” increase in revenue and activity during the past financial year.

In a statement CEO David Stewart said the year was a “difficult trading year” for law firms. In November (10 November 2010) Olswang reported half-year turnover was down by 2 per cent, predominantly due to flat performance in the UK.

The firm’s existing international offices in Berlin and Brussels were well ahead of budget at the half-year point and continued to perform strongly during the second half of the financial year.

Olswang also added Paris and Madrid to its roster of offices during the course of the last year. Madrid opened in June with the hire of Bird & Bird’s local corporate head (15 June 2010), while Dechert partner Stephan Alamowitch joined the firm in Paris in February (2 February 2011).

Stewart added that the firm would continue to focus on its sector-led strategy, which he said had borne “real fruit through the increasingly international flavour of our corporate transactions, the scale of our dispute work for major corporates in our key sectors, and the overall increase in quality of the clients we’re acting for”.

He said Olswang was expecting significant increases in both revenue and profitability for the current financial year.