McDermott Will & Schulte has boosted London revenues by more than 50%, with the newly merged City office contributing $154m to a near-$3bn total generated by the firm during 2025.
The London revenue total marks a 53% increase on the $100.9m generated by legacy McDermott Will & Emery’s London team in 2024.
Following the combination of McDermott with Schulte Roth & Zabel in August last year, the new firm has posted combined firmwide revenues of $2.99bn for 2025, a result which is set to catapult it into the top 20 largest law firms by revenue globally.
Last year McDermott placed 28th with $2.23bn, while Schulte sat just outside the top 100 with turnover of $618.8m. The $2.99bn generated by the merged firm during 2025 represents a 34% increase on legacy McDermott’s final full-year revenues.
Profit per equity partner (PEP) also increased across the combined firm, with its PEP hitting $5.17m.
For legacy McDermott partners, this represents a 13% increase, up from $4.58m in 2024, while for Schulte, the figure is up 25% on its pre-merger PEP of $4.1m.
The merger – which was completed after only three months of discussions led on the McDermott side by chair Ira Coleman (pictured) – brought together around 1,350 lawyers from McDermott and over 350 from Schulte, spread across 24 locations worldwide.
McDermott has also been investing in the City office, with recent hires including antitrust partner Kristina Nordlander from A&O Shearman, experienced litigator Hilton Mervis from Arnold & Porter, and financial services regulatory partner Karen Butler from DLA Piper.
For more, see The $3bn McDermott Will & Schulte merger: four things the data tells us
The firm also recently made its first round of partner promotions since the merger, with 74 lawyers made up globally, including two in London – Pilar Arzuaga (regulatory) and James Dobias (litigation).
While the post-merger financial picture is undeniably positive, the news comes at the same time as the departure of 20 partners across the US to Dechert, led by Chicago litigator and former head of global strategy Michael Poulos.
The lawyers moving are spread across New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington DC, where Dechert has established offices, as well as its ‘soon-to-be-opened’ offices in Chicago and Dallas.
In New York, Seth Friedman and Tim Hoeffner will now co-chair the firm’s accounting defence practice, while Bill Donovan in LA will chair the class action practice, after acting in similar roles during their time at McDermott.
Rachel Cowen has joined Dechert in Chicago – where the firm is reopening – as co-chair of its labour and employment practice.
Additionally, McDermott’s former global head of trademark prosecution and controversy Christina Martini will join as co-chair of Dechert’s intellectual property practice.
Poulos, who will serve as vice chair and global head of strategy for Dechert, said of his move: ‘I am incredibly excited to join Dechert, integrate with firm leadership and help continue the firm’s upward trajectory. At the same time, I am grateful for my time at my previous firm.’
‘We joined Dechert because we felt aligned with firm leadership on our approaches to strategic growth, the firm has experienced impressive performance, and we see opportunities to grow on the Dechert platform. In my role as global head of strategy, I also look forward to helping the firm build on its recent success and continue to grow in other strategically important areas as well,’ he added.
