Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) grew revenue 8.3% in 2023 to $2.26bn, fuelled by increased demand across its regions and practices.  

The figure represents an increase of 20% since 2020, when the firm returned to revenue growth following two years of decline. As headcount held steady at just over 3,000 lawyers, revenue per lawyer grew by nearly 8.7% to $734k, according to law.com.  

Having flatlined the previous year, NRF’s profits per equity partner soared by 32.7% in 2023 to $1.4m, fuelled by a reduction in its equity tier of around 140 lawyers. The firm had misclassified around that number of nonequity partners as equity partners in recent years, which in turn contributed to its non-equity tier swelling by 150 lawyers.  

Overall the firm’s partner count grew by just over 1% over the course of the year through a 36-strong promotions round and more than 40 lateral hires, including top disputes lawyer Alison Kellett in London from BNP Paribas and a senior corporate partner Jean-Claude Rivalland in Paris by Allen & Overy.

Among partner retirements during the year was the unexpected departure of chief executive officer Gerry Pecht, who stepped down early and retired from the firm last September. US managing partner Jeff Cody and EMEA head Peter Scott took over leadership of the firm as interim co-chairs in the wake of Pecht’s sudden departure.  

Over the course of the year a number of senior leaders left the firm, including global COO Robert Otty, global CIO Ann-Michele Bowlin and global head of digital Sean Pratap. Global head of risk advisory Jane Caskey also exited in September for the same role at Linklaters, while Ffion Flockhart, who had been global co-head of information governance, privacy and cybersecurity, left to be head of cybersecurity at Allen & Overy.  

In terms of practice area, the firm’s US arm saw demand rise across banking and finance, project finance and disputes as well as energy, leading revenue to grow nearly 13%. Meantime in EMEA, varied demand in corporate and real estate coupled with strong demand across banking, regulatory and litigation saw revenue grow by 6.5%.