Arthur Cox listed as law firm having largest turnover in State at €109m

ARTHUR COX remains the largest law firm in the State in terms of turnover and is the 20th-largest in continental Europe, according to the annual league table of European law firms compiled by British publication the Lawyer.

Turnover at Arthur Cox rose last year from €105 million to €109 million, according to the publication. It notes the firm’s work for the National Asset Management Agency and its advisory work for the Government on the Irish bailout.

The data used in the annual publication, which does not include UK law firms, is based on estimates, although the Lawyer does seek financial data from each firm. US law firms with operations in Europe are also excluded.

Most Irish law firms are not obliged to publish their financial results. Mason Hayes and Curran is one of the few firms that does publish annual figures.

While Arthur Cox remains the top-earning Irish firm, it slipped from 18th place last year to 20th in the European rankings. McCann Fitzgerald was a close second, ranked 23 in the overall list, with revenues of just over €101.5 million, slightly up from the €100 million revenue reported the previous year. Again, the entry highlights the firm’s work for Nama.

Matheson Ormsby Prentice was the third-largest Irish firm on the list, ranked at 26, with turnover of €98 million, while AL Goodbody had revenue of €93.4 million, leaving it in 28th place overall.

William Fry, Mason Hayes and Curran and Dillon Eustace were the other Irish law firms included in the top 100 list, with revenue of €60.3 million, €39.2 million and €33.5 million respectively.

In terms of revenue generated per partner, McCann Fitzgerald, which has 67 partners, topped the list of Irish firms, generating €1.5 million per partner, leaving it in 39th place overall.

AL Goodbody, which has 73 partners, generated revenue of €1.28 million per partner, while Arthur Cox, which has 104 partners, had a figure of €1.06 million.

The total revenue generated by the top Irish law firms as ranked by the Lawyer was €535 million, a third of the €1.5 billion generated by German firms in the league table, but only slightly behind Italy at €548.5 million.

The revenue earned by the Irish law firms included in the list exceeded that of all the Scandinavian countries and was 3½ times the amount generated by Luxembourg-based firms.

Irish law firms have a very strong representation of female lawyers and partners, according to the publication. “The French and the Irish firms stand out in the diversity stakes,” the report notes.

More than a quarter of partners in Irish firms are female, while William Fry and Mason Hayes and Curran have female managing partners.

Spanish firm Garrigues was at number one in the list. With just over 2,500 staff members, it had turnover of €355.2 million.