THE IRISH firm Arthur Cox has one of the highest turnovers for a law firm in Europe and has an annual revenue per partner in excess of €1 million, according to the latest issue of an online magazine that covers the profession.
The firm, which had a turnover or fee income of €105 million, is in 14th place in a list of the top 100 in Europe in terms of turnover, which was published yesterday in thelawyer.com magazine.
McCann FitzGerald (€100 million) is in 16th place and Matheson Ormsby Prentice (€95 million) is 19th on the list, which does not include UK firms.
Arthur Cox has a wide range of blue-chip clients including the Department of Finance, which it advised on the bank guarantee scheme and the bank recapitalisation process. It also provides advice to the National Asset Management Agency.
The firm had earned close to €4 million for its advice on the bank guarantee and recapitalisation processes by late last year. A spokesman for the firm said it had no comment to make on the magazine’s figures.
It is generally considered that Arthur Cox is Ireland’s largest legal firm although none of the legal firms publish income or profit figures. Irish law firms are not limited companies and do not publish accounts. The origin of the figures quoted in the online magazine is not known.
The magazine says Arthur Cox has 560 staff of whom 370 are fee-earners. Of these 235 are lawyers and 101 are partners. The revenue per lawyer is €447,000 while the revenue per partner is €1.04 million.
McCann FitzGerald has 429 staff of whom 272 are fee-earners, the magazine says. There are 198 lawyers and 69 partners with the firm having revenue of €505,000 per lawyer and €1.45 million per partner.
The figures for Matheson Ormsby Prentice state it has 530 staff of whom 490 are fee-earners. There are 350 lawyers and 90 partners, with the firm having a revenue per lawyer of €271,000 and per partner of €1.06 million.
AL Goodbody is 23rd on the list with a stated turnover of €85 million. It is said to have 550 staff of whom 66 are partners. The firm’s revenue per partner is given as €1.29 million.
William Fry solicitors comes 34th on the list with a turnover of €61 million. It is listed as having 370 staff of whom 60 are partners. The revenue per partner is €1.02 million.
The magazine lists Mason Hayes Curran in 56th position, with a turnover of €36 million. It has 270 staff and 47 partners, with revenues per partner of €0.77 million, according to the magazine.
There has been ongoing controversy over the level of competition in the legal profession and the fees charged. On the other hand, many solicitors, particularly younger professionals, have been hit hard by the recession.