\n\u201cAsia has been the story of the year for me. Our Asia performance, after a number of years where the entire region\u2019s market was a bit slower, came roaring back and we were strong across the board.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The U.S. remains another major focus. Lewis said the firm is continuing to build its brand in the American market as it expands its cross-border practice. \u201cWe are building a brand in the US rather than having a brand in the US,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cAnd as things currently stand, we know that it\u2019s building on trajectory.\u201d<\/p>\n
That strategy has included lateral hiring, with the firm continuing to add prominent lawyers to strengthen its U.S. platform. One thing Lewis says isn\u2019t part of the plan, however, is a merger with an American firm.<\/p>\n
His comments come just days after a Semafor report<\/a> claimed Linklaters unsuccessfully approached Cleary Gottlieb about a merger earlier this year \u2014 a report both firms publicly denied. Lewis flatly rejected the idea: \u201cWe have not approached anyone for a merger. We\u2019re happy pursuing the strategy we\u2019re pursuing.\u201d<\/p>\n
If these financial results are any indication, Linklaters doesn\u2019t see a merger as necessary. Its strategy of growing its U.S. practice, capitalizing on cross-border work, and taking advantage of Asia\u2019s rebound appears to be doing exactly what the firm hoped it would.<\/p>\n
Linklaters Revenue Creeps Up as US, Asia Return Soaring Profits<\/a> [Bloomberg Law]<\/p>\n
Earlier<\/strong>: Another Rumored Biglaw Merger Falls Apart Before It Begins<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Staci Zaretsky<\/a> is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email<\/a> her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky<\/a>, X\/Twitter<\/a>, and Threads<\/a>, or connect with her on LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
The post No Merger Needed: Linklaters Posts Strong Financial Results<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Linklaters has spent years talking about its international growth strategy. This year, the numbers suggest it\u2019s paying off.<\/p>\n
The Magic Circle firm reported revenue of \u00a32.5 billion ($3.3 billion) for fiscal 2026, a 6.8% increase over the previous year. Pre-tax profit climbed 11.6% to \u00a31.2 billion ($1.6 billion), while profit per equity partner rose 11.4% to \u00a32.5 million ($3.34 million).<\/p>\n
The firm\u2019s strongest performances came from the very markets it\u2019s been working hardest to expand.<\/p>\n
Profits in the U.S. jumped 39%, while Asia posted 36% growth, easily outpacing Europe (10%) and the UK (7%). For firmwide managing partner Paul Lewis, there was no question which region stole the show. As he explained to Bloomberg Law<\/a>:<\/p>\n
\n\u201cAsia has been the story of the year for me. Our Asia performance, after a number of years where the entire region\u2019s market was a bit slower, came roaring back and we were strong across the board.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The U.S. remains another major focus. Lewis said the firm is continuing to build its brand in the American market as it expands its cross-border practice. \u201cWe are building a brand in the US rather than having a brand in the US,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cAnd as things currently stand, we know that it\u2019s building on trajectory.\u201d<\/p>\n
That strategy has included lateral hiring, with the firm continuing to add prominent lawyers to strengthen its U.S. platform. One thing Lewis says isn\u2019t part of the plan, however, is a merger with an American firm.<\/p>\n
His comments come just days after a Semafor report<\/a> claimed Linklaters unsuccessfully approached Cleary Gottlieb about a merger earlier this year \u2014 a report both firms publicly denied. Lewis flatly rejected the idea: \u201cWe have not approached anyone for a merger. We\u2019re happy pursuing the strategy we\u2019re pursuing.\u201d<\/p>\n
If these financial results are any indication, Linklaters doesn\u2019t see a merger as necessary. Its strategy of growing its U.S. practice, capitalizing on cross-border work, and taking advantage of Asia\u2019s rebound appears to be doing exactly what the firm hoped it would.<\/p>\n
Linklaters Revenue Creeps Up as US, Asia Return Soaring Profits<\/a> [Bloomberg Law]<\/p>\n
Earlier<\/strong>: Another Rumored Biglaw Merger Falls Apart Before It Begins<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Staci Zaretsky<\/a> is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email<\/a> her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky<\/a>, X\/Twitter<\/a>, and Threads<\/a>, or connect with her on LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
The post No Merger Needed: Linklaters Posts Strong Financial Results<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Linklaters has spent years talking about its international growth strategy. This year, the numbers suggest it\u2019s paying off. The Magic Circle firm reported revenue of \u00a32.5 billion ($3.3 billion) for fiscal 2026, a 6.8% increase over the previous year. Pre-tax profit climbed 11.6% to \u00a31.2 billion ($1.6 billion), while profit per equity partner rose 11.4% […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":157702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Staci-Zaretsky-Gi0Hkv.jpg?fit=150%2C100&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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