International firm Fieldfisher reported only modest financial gains for the year to 31 March 2025 but framed the results as evidence of a deliberate, continent‑wide growth strategy. According to the original report in The Law Gazette, profit per equity partner rose to £1.0m — an increase of around 3% on the prior year — while firm‑wide revenue edged up to £385m, a rise of roughly 1%. The firm described the numbers as the product of “strategic transformation and investment” across its network. (The firm’s own earlier announcement for the 2023/24 period had set out stronger year‑on‑year growth for that earlier reporting window, with revenue of about £359m and profit per equity partner close to £966,000.)

Fieldfisher says growth was broad‑based across practice areas, with double‑digit increases cited in regulatory, intellectual property, tax, real estate and personal injury and medical negligence teams. The firm also reported revenue gains across its European network, singling out newly opened offices in Austria and Italy and notable uplifts in Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. These departmental and regional gains are presented by management as validation of a cross‑border strategy designed to capture more integrated, pan‑European work.

The results reflect, and in part follow from, a concerted expansion of the firm’s continental footprint. Management point to the opening or relaunch of offices in Austria, Italy, Poland and Portugal in the past two years and to the reintegration of Italy as a fully integrated office following an earlier split from a verein partner — a structural change the firm acknowledges has affected this year’s reported results. Independent reporting of recent leadership and organisational moves places those steps squarely in the context of Fieldfisher’s stated ambition to become a leading European firm.

Alongside lateral hires and office openings, the firm has been investing heavily in premises as part of its European programme. Fieldfisher’s own communications describe a move to a new, sustainably designed Hamburg office in the EDGE HafenCity development and set out planned projects in Berlin and Dublin. The firm has confirmed plans to relocate its Birmingham team to Two Chamberlain Square and to undertake a substantial refurbishment of its London headquarters after extending its Riverbank House lease to 2035 — a commitment that will keep the firm occupying roughly 81,000 sq ft in central London. The company portrays these property decisions as integral to recruitment, client engagement and its ESG‑led workplace strategy.

Taken together, the modest headline increases and the investments in people, premises and cross‑border integration present a picture of consolidation rather than rapid top‑line acceleration. “We have ambitious plans for the future,” managing partner Robert Shooter said in the firm’s results announcement as reported by The Law Gazette, framing the figures as a transitional stage in a longer‑term plan. The firm claims that the current period of transformation and integration will sustain its success going forward, though the reported one‑per‑cent revenue uptick and three‑percent rise in profit per equity partner underline that ambition will need to be translated into stronger growth to match the rhetoric.

Fieldfisher’s published locations listing and successive announcements provide the clearest evidence of how that strategy is being executed: a network of some 28 offices across 14 countries intended to support cross‑border work and sector specialisms. Whether the recent structural changes and property investments will produce materially faster growth in coming years remains the firm’s stated objective — and the metric by which the market and clients will judge progress.

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Source: Noah Wire Services