Continued strong growth for the firm's offices in the UK, Germany, France, Belgium, and the US were further boosted by the addition of Ireland in May.
European law firm Fieldfisher has recorded a 12 per cent increase in half-year revenue to £129 million.
Firm highlights for the period include the merger with Irish firm McDowell Purcell to launch Fieldfisher's new Dublin office in May; adding a five-strong team of renewables and power specialists to our UK energy practice; the first anniversary and expansion of our Belfast Legal Solutions Hub; the launch of our Feesolve litigation funding service; and the establishment of new arbitration, public law and real estate practices in Paris.
Business highlights included a major win for our UK regulatory team on behalf of client Achilles against Network Rail; numerous successes for our energy and natural resources practice, including a £185 million farm-out deal for Independent Oil & Gas PLC; and assisting key tech client Blue Prism on its £80 million acquisition of Thoughtonomy Ltd; the Dispute Resolution practice continues to handle some of the biggest litigation and arbitration cases in the City, including the widely reported PrivatBank and Yukos cases.
The Personal Injury and Medical Negligence practice continues to work on some of the most high profile and serious cases including; a £30m settlement for a brain injury case for a boy labelled as naughty and ABC v St George's in a widely reported case that challenged the duty of clinicians to family members where hereditary disease is involved.
The practice is also part of a campaign by survivors of the Westminster terrorist attack asking the Mayor of London for a permanent memorial to the incident and have responded on their behalf to the coroner's report into the 2017 London Bridge terrorist attack.
The contribution of our European offices to the firm's overall revenue continues to expand, with the Paris office enjoying a particularly strong first half of 2019/2020, thanks to high levels of corporate activity and the new practice areas.
Fieldfisher's German offices in Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich yet again contributed significant revenues in the six months to October. This was driven by a number of large corporate energy transactions, significant financial services instructions and a strong start for the new litigation team that joined Fieldfisher in Munich this year. As part of the firm's continued growth strategy, our Hamburg office has targeted expansion in the legal tech sector.
Besides providing advice to leading legal tech companies the offices have also established a cross-office legal tech team that develops specific legal tech solutions for clients. These solutions have a particular focus on assisting internal legal departments to automate their legal processes.
Commenting on the results, Fieldfisher Managing Partner Michael Chissick said:
"I am extremely pleased with the firm's continued growth in what are difficult times for the legal market amid Brexit-related and wider political and economic uncertainty.
"All practice groups have exceeded last year's revenues and we are fortunate to have secured a number of excellent new clients across the group, as well as maintaining strong relationships with existing clients.
"The first half of 2019/2020 has shown signs of a slow-down in transactional activities, however the breadth and depth of expertise across the firm means we have benefitted from increased demand for wider corporate work, specialist technology, outsourcing and privacy advice, dispute resolution, regulatory and financial services instructions.
"I am particularly encouraged by the rising interest in the services offered by our Belfast Hub, which we are doubling in size, and our alternative service offerings.
"The addition of our new Dublin office in May has also greatly strengthened our offer as a European law firm, particularly in our regulatory offering and our financial services and energy and natural resources sectors.
"I am confident that the second half of this financial year will be another strong period for the business."
In September, Fieldfisher also launched its newest charity partnership with homelessness charity St Mungo's in London.
Firm highlights for the period include the merger with Irish firm McDowell Purcell to launch Fieldfisher's new Dublin office in May; adding a five-strong team of renewables and power specialists to our UK energy practice; the first anniversary and expansion of our Belfast Legal Solutions Hub; the launch of our Feesolve litigation funding service; and the establishment of new arbitration, public law and real estate practices in Paris.
Business highlights included a major win for our UK regulatory team on behalf of client Achilles against Network Rail; numerous successes for our energy and natural resources practice, including a £185 million farm-out deal for Independent Oil & Gas PLC; and assisting key tech client Blue Prism on its £80 million acquisition of Thoughtonomy Ltd; the Dispute Resolution practice continues to handle some of the biggest litigation and arbitration cases in the City, including the widely reported PrivatBank and Yukos cases.
The Personal Injury and Medical Negligence practice continues to work on some of the most high profile and serious cases including; a £30m settlement for a brain injury case for a boy labelled as naughty and ABC v St George's in a widely reported case that challenged the duty of clinicians to family members where hereditary disease is involved.
The practice is also part of a campaign by survivors of the Westminster terrorist attack asking the Mayor of London for a permanent memorial to the incident and have responded on their behalf to the coroner's report into the 2017 London Bridge terrorist attack.
The contribution of our European offices to the firm's overall revenue continues to expand, with the Paris office enjoying a particularly strong first half of 2019/2020, thanks to high levels of corporate activity and the new practice areas.
Fieldfisher's German offices in Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich yet again contributed significant revenues in the six months to October. This was driven by a number of large corporate energy transactions, significant financial services instructions and a strong start for the new litigation team that joined Fieldfisher in Munich this year. As part of the firm's continued growth strategy, our Hamburg office has targeted expansion in the legal tech sector.
Besides providing advice to leading legal tech companies the offices have also established a cross-office legal tech team that develops specific legal tech solutions for clients. These solutions have a particular focus on assisting internal legal departments to automate their legal processes.
Commenting on the results, Fieldfisher Managing Partner Michael Chissick said:
"I am extremely pleased with the firm's continued growth in what are difficult times for the legal market amid Brexit-related and wider political and economic uncertainty.
"All practice groups have exceeded last year's revenues and we are fortunate to have secured a number of excellent new clients across the group, as well as maintaining strong relationships with existing clients.
"The first half of 2019/2020 has shown signs of a slow-down in transactional activities, however the breadth and depth of expertise across the firm means we have benefitted from increased demand for wider corporate work, specialist technology, outsourcing and privacy advice, dispute resolution, regulatory and financial services instructions.
"I am particularly encouraged by the rising interest in the services offered by our Belfast Hub, which we are doubling in size, and our alternative service offerings.
"The addition of our new Dublin office in May has also greatly strengthened our offer as a European law firm, particularly in our regulatory offering and our financial services and energy and natural resources sectors.
"I am confident that the second half of this financial year will be another strong period for the business."
In September, Fieldfisher also launched its newest charity partnership with homelessness charity St Mungo's in London.