White & Case revenue climbs to $3.6 billion as PEP rises 10%

Dimitar Dimitrov is a content and engagement coordinator at LawCareers.Net

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White & Case LLP has reported global revenue of almost $3.6 billion for 2025, a year‑on‑year increase of more than 8% that helped lift profit per equity partner (PEP) by 10% to $4.4 million. The firm said the results reflected strong performance across its global network, with half of all matters last year involving cross‑border elements.

The latest figures mark a slowdown from 2024, when the law firm posted a 12.5% rise in revenue and a 27% surge in PEP amid a broad rebound in global deal activity. In 2025, according to Law.com, revenue per lawyer grew by 6.5% to $1.36 million, while net income rose 4.8% to $1.47 billion. Expenses increased by 10% to $1.8 billion.

In London, revenue increased by 5% to approximately $584 million. Over the past five years, the office has grown its turnover by 47%. Vice‑chair Oliver Brettle, based in London, described 2025 as a “successful year”.

Brettle said: “Our M&A, capital markets and restructuring and insolvency practices had a particularly strong 2025. Overall, we feel that last year reflects our focus on advising global clients on their most important, complex cross-border matters, and we think we are ideally placed to play to our strengths as a global firm.” 

While the firm didn’t expand its footprint of 43 offices in 29 countries in 2025, it hired 51 partner‑level laterals. These included a trio of intellectual property partners from A&O Shearman in London and three private equity specialists from Ropes & Gray International LLP. In New York, the firm added global litigation co‑chair Jonathan Polkes two other partners from Weil, Gotshal & Manges (London) LLP, and a four‑partner M&A and shareholder activism team from Cadwalder Wickersham & Taft. It also recruited top London tax partners Arun Birla and Jiten Tank from Paul Hastings (Europe) LLP.

Despite the hiring spree and a 1.7% increase in total lawyers, the firm’s partner headcount fell in 2025. Total partners decreased by 0.7% to 693, while the number of equity partners dropped by 4.9% to 332. Brettle said departures occurred for “a variety of reasons” and represented “inevitable” churn at a large international law firm.

White & Case has grown global revenue 51% over the past five years and is targeting $5 billion by 2028. Growth priorities include bolstering US lateral hires and expanding in energy and infrastructure, technology, and private capital, including sovereign wealth advisory. To support those ambitions, the firm formalised its data centre group last year and launched a global private capital group.

Elsewhere, White & Case’s M&A team advised on $284.7 billion in deals in 2025, ranking 13th by deal value in London Stock Exchange Group’s legal advisor list. Notable work included advising Cathexis on the $5.8 billion sale of Yondr and Deliveroo on its £2.9 billion recommended takeover by DoorDash. On the disputes side, major wins included successful defences for Toshiba and Microsoft.

Brettle said January 2026 performance was ahead of the prior year and that sentiment for the year was “positive”.