Welcome to the 2020 eprivateclient Top Offshore Law Firms rankings – the second of six instalments in the 2020 eprivateclient series of private client rankings following the publication of the 2020 eprivateclient Top Residential Property Buyers.
Offshore law firms play a vital role in the global private wealth sector with individuals and their families turning to them for legal advice and structuring and it is vital that firms that provide this advice outside of the UK are recognised.
For the first time this year, the 2020 Top Offshore Law Firm rankings has separately recognised firms that operate across multiple jurisdictions and those that work from a single jurisdiction with both providing advice to clients in their jurisdictions as well as across the world.
For 2020, 30 firms feature with 11 across two tiers within the multi-jurisdictional rankings and a further 19 across three tiers in the single-jurisdiction list.
Across all the firms, the 30 firms (29 last year) employ 260 partners (255 in 2019), 625 fee earners (535 in 2019) and total staff of 931. The 30 firms generated fee income of £122.2 million – an increase of 17 percent per firm compared to 2019.
Within the multi-jurisdictional rankings, the eleven firms are divided into two tiers with five firms in Tier I and six in Tier II with 130 partners, 319 fee earners, 461 private client staff and fee income of £59.8 million this year.
In Tier I the five firms have a total of 79 partners at an average of 16 per firm. There is a total of 226 fee earners – ranging from 22 to 82 – which sees an average of 45 per firm. £42.5 million was generated by the firms in fee income (£8.5 million on average).
Tier II’s six firms have 51 partners among them (8.5 per firm), 93 fee earners (16 on average), total private client staff of 149 (25 per firm) and fee income of £17.3 million.
Within the single-jurisdiction rankings, 19 firms feature across three tiers with five in Tier I, eight in Tier II and six in Tier III.
The five firms featured in Tier I have a total of 60 partners across the firms (12 on average per firm), fee earner numbers of 146 (29 per firm), and fee income of £29.5 million (an average of £5.9 million).
In Tier II the eight firms have 42 partners (5 per firm), 98 fee earners, over 150 total private client staff and generated fee income of £18.5 million in 2019.
Tier III features six firms with a combined 28 partners, 62 fee earners, 95 private client staff and fee income of £14.4 million.
Across the three tiers, the single jurisdiction firms employ 130 partners, 306 fee earners, 470 total staff and made £62.4 million in fee income in the past year.
The 2020 eprivateclient Top Offshore Law Firm rankings are based on a survey of over fifty private client offshore law firms across the globe. Where data was not provided, publisher’s estimates were made, which are clearly labelled on the rankings.
To view the rankings please click below