Freshfields posts slight profit decline for 2025, with staff wages rising sharply to £1.2 billion
Freshfields has reported a decline in profits for the year ending 30 April 2025, with a significant rise in its wage bill contributing to the drop. The City giant’s pre-tax surplus fell to £656.8 million, down from £668.9 million in 2024, despite a 6% increase in income, which reached £2.25 billion.
The firm’s profit for the discretionary division among its 296 LLP members also saw a dip, dropping from £665 million to £648 million. Freshfields attributed this decline to a sharp increase in staff salaries, which rose by over £100 million, from £1.1 billion in 2024 to £1.206 billion in the most recent financial year. The average number of employees also climbed, with the firm employing 5,945 people, including 3,901 fee-earners, up from 5,601 the previous year.
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In 2025, Freshfields’ senior leadership, which includes the senior partner, managing partners, and heads of global practice groups, shared a total remuneration package of £25.8 million, a slight decrease from £26.2 million in 2024.
The firm has seen growth across all of its major geographical markets. European income rose 2% to £1.598 billion, while US revenue experienced a significant increase, climbing from £391 million to £473 million. The Middle East and North Africa also saw a rise in revenue, from £42 million to £44 million, and Asia’s income increased from £127 million to £134 million.
Despite the increase in revenue, Freshfields has made a strategic decision to limit public disclosure of its trading performance. In 2023, the firm announced that it would no longer release trading details to the media, emphasising the importance of the quality of business it has built and the client mandates it has secured around the world.
The firm closed the year with a net cash balance of £87 million, up from £36 million in the previous year.