London-based Herbert Smith’s highest-paid fee earner took home almost £1.4 million (US $1.95 million) last year, the firm’s LLP accounts for 2008 have revealed.
The figure, which tops 2007’s highest earnings of £1.04 million ($1.45 million), comes after a year in which the firm saw a 26% increase in profits per equity partner, breaking through the £1m barrier.
Staff costs jumped by more than 40% to £144.5 million ($201.7 million), an increase that can be attributed to the firm’s average fee-earning headcount rising by 217 to 1,132.
During 2008 the firm changed the name of its top-level management committee from the Partnership Council to the LLP Council. The committee is chaired by senior partner David Gold and consists of 12 other partners from across the business, including head of international banking Georges Dirani and managing partner David Willis.
The firm was founded in the City of London in 1882 by Norman Herbert Smith, and today has 230 partners and 1,200 fee-earners. It is widely considered to be the UK’s leading litigation practice.