Top European Law Firms: Biggest UK and EU Firms Ranked

You probably only hear about these firms when something huge happens. A bank buys another bank, a football club gets sold, a government gets taken to court over a pipeline. Somewhere in the story there’s a line like “advised by Clifford Chance” or “Garrigues acted for the buyer”, and most people skim past it. But those names make billions a year, and if you’re a law student, a business owner looking for a lawyer abroad, or just curious who does this work, it helps to know who’s who.

Here’s the short answer first. The biggest European law firms by revenue are London firms: A&O Shearman ($3.7 billion), Clifford Chance ($3.5 billion) and Linklaters (£2.5 billion), all for the year to April 2026. The biggest firm based in mainland Europe is Spain’s Garrigues, with €527.7 million in 2025. And if you count lawyers working inside the EU instead of money, CMS wins with 2,869.

Most ranking pages you’ll find on this mix those three measures up, use numbers from 2020 or even 2005, or quietly swap in US firms. So this list sticks to the latest published figures, says the year next to every number, and splits the firms into groups that actually make sense.

What counts as a “European” law firm?

This sounds like a boring question, but it changes the whole list. There are three kinds of firm people mean when they say “European”:

1. UK-rooted international firms. Headquartered in London, with offices all over Europe and the world. Linklaters, Clifford Chance, Freshfields, A&O Shearman and the rest. Some have merged with US firms but still run from London.
2. Independent firms from mainland Europe and Ireland. Garrigues in Madrid, Hengeler Mueller in Germany, De Brauw in Amsterdam, Arthur Cox in Dublin. Most work mainly in their home country and refer cross-border work to friendly firms elsewhere.
3. US firms with big European offices. Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, White & Case. Kirkland made £914 million in the UK alone last year, more than Clifford Chance or Freshfields earned there. But they’re American firms, run from Chicago, New York or Los Angeles.

This article ranks groups 1 and 2, and gives group 3 its own section further down. If a page tells you Kirkland is the “top European law firm”, it’s answering a different question.

The biggest European law firms by revenue

A few notes so you don’t get tripped up. DLA Piper is half British, half American (it formed from the UK firm DLA and the US firm Piper Rudnick in 2005), so some lists put it with the US firms. Freshfields hasn’t published its year to April 2026 yet as far as we could find, so its number is a year older than the rest. Slaughter and May doesn’t publish revenue at all, because it’s a general partnership, so every figure you see for it is an estimate. And Loyens & Loeff, Bredin Prat, BonelliErede and the Irish firms don’t publish global revenue in a form we could check, so they’re in the profiles below without a number.

The UK-rooted international firms

1. A&O Shearman

Allen & Overy and the New York firm Shearman & Sterling merged in May 2024 to make A&O Shearman, with about 4,000 lawyers at the start. In its second year it brought in $3.7 billion (£2.8 billion) to 30 April 2026. That’s flat in dollars and slightly down in pounds, but profit before tax rose 14% to $1.6 billion and profit per equity partner hit $2.9 million.

It’s known for banking and finance, plus big M&A. In 2026 it acted on Genmab’s deal for Merus and Texas Instruments’ deal for Silicon Labs. It lost a trio of London finance partners to Latham & Watkins in January, which tells you how hard US firms are hiring in London right now.

2. Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance formed in 1987 from the merger of Clifford-Turner and Coward Chance, and it runs from Canary Wharf rather than the City. For the year to April 2026 it reported $3.5 billion of revenue, up 9% at constant currency, with profit per equity partner of $3.1 million (verify). It made 28 new partners and hired 25 from other firms, 15 of them in the US.

Clifford Chance has the widest spread of offices of the London firms, with more than 30. If you need a lawyer in Warsaw, Luxembourg and Dubai on the same deal, this is often who gets the call.

3. Linklaters

Linklaters had a strong year. Global revenue rose 6.8% to £2.5 billion in the year to April 2026, pre-tax profit rose 11.6% to £1.2 billion, and profit per equity partner reached £2.5 million, a bit more per head than A&O Shearman’s £2.2 million. Its US business grew profit 39%, which is a big deal for a London firm that spent years trying to crack New York.

It’s also the first firm ever to make more than £1 billion in UK revenue alone (£1.059 billion), and it’s topped the UK revenue table three years running. Linklaters dates back to 1838 (verify) and works mostly on corporate deals, banking and capital markets.

4. Freshfields

Freshfields brought in £2.25 billion in the year to April 2025, up 6%. The interesting bit is where the money came from. US revenue jumped 20% to £473 million and now makes up 21% of the firm. Staff costs rose 10% to £1.2 billion, and the profit pot for partners actually fell, from £665 million to £648 million.

Freshfields is the biggest law firm in Germany by German revenue (€573.3 million in 2024/25, per JUVE), which surprises a lot of people. It’s strong in M&A, antitrust and disputes, and it hasn’t published a profit per partner figure since 2023.

5. HSF Kramer

Herbert Smith Freehills merged with New York’s Kramer Levin in June 2025, and the first full year to April 2026 brought in $2.4 billion (£1.8 billion). Profit per equity partner came in at $2.1 million. The firm says it advised on 240 M&A deals worth $130 billion in the year, and it won top prizes at the Legal Business Awards in September 2026.

Herbert Smith built its name on litigation and arbitration, and that’s still what most clients hire it for.

6. CMS

CMS is a bit different. It’s a group of member firms across Europe and beyond rather than one partnership, and it doesn’t publish profits. Global revenue hit €2.17 billion in 2025, up 4.8%, with the UK part bringing in £839.3 million.

What CMS has is sheer reach inside Europe. With 2,869 lawyers in the EU in 2024, it had more than any other firm, well ahead of DLA Piper on 1,750. In Germany alone its arm CMS Hasche Sigle made €425.9 million in 2024/25. If you’re a mid-sized company that needs the same firm in Vienna, Prague and Bucharest, CMS is usually on the shortlist.

7. DLA Piper

DLA Piper reported $4.6 billion of revenue for 2025, up 8.4%, and profit per equity partner of $4.14 million, up 19.6% (verify against the firm’s release). It added 137 partners in the year. It has more lawyers than almost any firm on earth, at nearly 5,000 according to Lawyer Monthly, and it’s the second-biggest by EU headcount. It works on everything from real estate to tech and employment, which makes it a common pick for companies expanding into several countries at once.

8. Slaughter and May

Slaughter and May is the odd one out in the magic circle. It has only four offices (London, Brussels, Hong Kong and Beijing), it doesn’t publish revenue, and it isn’t even an LLP. Instead of opening offices everywhere, it works with a set of “best friend” firms in other countries, among them Hengeler Mueller, Bredin Prat, BonelliErede, De Brauw and Uría Menéndez (verify membership).

Estimates put revenue around £650 million and profit per partner as high as £3.5 million (verify), which would make it one of the most profitable firms in Europe per partner. It’s the firm many FTSE 100 boards call first.

What’s the magic circle?

You’ll see this term on every UK law site. It’s an informal name for the five biggest London corporate firms: A&O Shearman, Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Linklaters and Slaughter and May. Nobody officially picks them. The label stuck because they’ve earned the most money and done the biggest deals in London for decades.

Top firms from mainland Europe and Ireland

These firms rarely show up in “biggest in the world” lists, but in their home countries they win most of the big work. Here’s who leads, country by country.

Garrigues (Spain)

Garrigues is the biggest law firm headquartered in mainland Europe, and it’s been No.1 on every continental list for years. Revenue reached €527.7 million in 2025, up 9.5%, its 12th straight year of growth. Most of that (€437.2 million) came from Spain, but international revenue jumped 44.5% to €90.5 million after it merged with Mexico’s Sánchez Devanny in early 2025.

Joaquín Garrigues founded it in Madrid in 1941. Tax is a big part of the business (29.3% of revenue), along with corporate work (32.6%). It also had 1,273 lawyers inside the EU in 2024, the fifth-highest of any firm, ahead of Baker McKenzie and Linklaters.

Cuatrecasas (Spain)

Cuatrecasas brought in €447.1 million in 2025, up 2.5%, after 12.2% growth the year before (verify). It started in Barcelona in 1917 and is strong in Spain and Portugal. The Financial Times put it first in a list of the most innovative European firms outside the UK, based on how often it appeared in the FT Innovative Lawyers report from 2006 to 2024.

Uría Menéndez (Spain)

Uría Menéndez made €308.8 million in 2025, up from €295.5 million. It’s smaller than Garrigues and Cuatrecasas but takes the biggest Spanish M&A deals, ranking third by deal value ($22.5 billion) in LSEG’s Spanish M&A table, ahead of both (verify year). It works across Spain, Portugal and Latin America.

Spain also has a fast riser in Pérez-Llorca, up 28% to €211.3 million (pro forma) in 2025 after expanding into Portugal, Mexico and Colombia. And here’s something no top-firm list tells you: PwC Tax & Legal (€247 million) now earns more in Spain than Uría Menéndez does there. The Big Four accountancy firms are a real force in Spanish law.

Hengeler Mueller (Germany)

Hengeler Mueller is the German firm that German companies call for the biggest deals. It made €381 million in Germany in 2024/25, up 7.2%, and it’s the only firm that isn’t American with revenue per lawyer above €1 million in Germany, per JUVE data. It has offices in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin, and it works with Slaughter and May and the other “best friend” firms abroad.

Noerr (Germany)

Noerr reported €328.4 million in 2025, up from €322.7 million, with 489 lawyers, tax advisers and auditors at year end. Based in Munich, it has a strong central and eastern Europe network. In 2025 it worked on PAI’s €4 billion deal for Apleona, on Alstom and KNDS, and for Mercedes-Benz.

Gleiss Lutz (Germany)

Gleiss Lutz grew 15% to €288.8 million in Germany in 2024/25, faster than Hengeler Mueller, Noerr or CMS in Germany that year. Founded in Stuttgart, it’s best known for M&A, disputes and public law.

De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek (Netherlands)

De Brauw made €229.1 million in 2025, up 8%. It has offices in Amsterdam, Brussels, London and Singapore, and it’s the Dutch firm most big Dutch companies use for M&A. It also publishes real numbers on partners: 30% of its partners were women at 1 January 2026, and it’s aiming for 35% by 2030.

Loyens & Loeff (Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg)

Loyens & Loeff combines lawyers and tax advisers, which is unusual. It says it’s the largest firm in the Benelux by revenue and, among independent firms, the third-largest in Europe, based on The Lawyer’s European 100 for 2026 (verify). Back in 2021 it was second only to Garrigues, with €344 million. It’s the go-to name for funds and tax structuring in Luxembourg and Amsterdam.

NautaDutilh and Houthoff (Netherlands)

Both appear on most Dutch top lists. NautaDutilh came fourth in the FT’s innovation ranking of continental firms.

Bredin Prat and Darrois Villey (France)

France doesn’t have one giant firm. The biggest by size is Fidal (€286 million in 2020, the latest figure we found), which works mainly for small and mid-sized French businesses. For the big Paris takeovers, Bredin Prat and Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier lead. Darrois acted alongside Weil on a €20 billion French telecoms carve-up in June 2026 (verify). Gide Loyrette Nouel has the widest international network of the French firms.

BonelliErede and Chiomenti (Italy)

BonelliErede (€250 million in 2020, estimated) and Chiomenti (€173 million in 2020, estimated) top the Italian market. Gianni & Origoni comes close behind. All three take most of the big Milan and Rome deals.

Arthur Cox and Matheson (Ireland)

Irish firms are bigger than you’d expect for a country of about 5 million people, because so many US tech and pharma companies run their European business from Dublin. Arthur Cox advised on more Irish M&A deals than anyone in the first half of 2025 (29), with A&L Goodbody next on 26 and Matheson on 20. Matheson came first overall in The Lawyer’s European 100 for 2026, which now ranks firms on growth, productivity and talent rather than size alone. McCann FitzGerald and William Fry make up the rest of Dublin’s big five.

The Nordics and Switzerland

In Sweden, Mannheimer Swartling and Vinge lead. Denmark has Kromann Reumert, Finland has Roschier, and Norway has Wikborg Rein and Thommessen. In Switzerland, Lenz & Staehelin, Homburger and Bär & Karrer handle most of the big Zurich and Geneva work. None of them publish global revenue we could confirm for 2025.

The best law firm in each European country

If you just want a name, here’s a quick cheat sheet. “Best” here means the firm that wins the most top-tier rankings and the biggest deals at home.

Recent mergers and name changes

Old lists are full of firms that don’t exist anymore under those names. Here’s what changed:

• Allen & Overy merged with Shearman & Sterling and became A&O Shearman in May 2024.
• Herbert Smith Freehills merged with Kramer Levin and became HSF Kramer in June 2025.
• Taylor Wessing UK combined with US firm Winston & Strawn to launch Winston Taylor in May 2026, with more than 1,400 lawyers. Taylor Wessing’s Dutch and Belgian firms joined too; the German Taylor Wessing stayed separate with a referral deal (verify launch date).
• Hogan Lovells partners approved a merger with New York’s Cadwalader in April 2026. The combined firm would have about 3,100 lawyers and, per Global Legal Post, rank fifth in the world by revenue (verify completion).
• Lovells became Hogan Lovells back in 2010, and Nabarro, SJ Berwin, Berwin Leighton Paisner and Pinsents have all merged into other firms since. If a list still shows them, it’s very old.

What about US firms in Europe?

They’re getting bigger every year, and you can’t ignore them. In the UK’s 2026 revenue table, 23 of the top 50 firms are American, up from 19 a year earlier. US firms grew UK revenue by 14.7% on average, against 7.1% for UK firms. Kirkland & Ellis now earns £914 million in the UK, third behind Linklaters (£1.059 billion) and A&O Shearman (£981 million), and ahead of Clifford Chance (£901 million). Latham & Watkins made £811 million.

In Germany, Latham (€252 million) and Milbank sit near the top too, with higher revenue per lawyer than any German firm. So if you’re a student choosing where to train, or a client getting pitched, the best-paid team in a European city might be an American firm. They’re just not European firms.

How much do these firms pay?

Pay is what most law students actually want to know. Slaughter and May pays trainees £56,000 in year one and £61,000 in year two, and newly qualified lawyers £150,000 in London, per Nonbillable (verify). The other magic circle firms pay in a similar range, and some US firms in London pay newly qualified lawyers more. Firms change these numbers almost every year, so check each firm’s graduate page before you apply.

Salaries in Madrid, Frankfurt or Amsterdam are lower than in London, but so is the cost of living.

How to pick a European law firm for your business

If you actually need a lawyer, size isn’t the only thing that matters. A few practical steps:

1. Start with the country, not the firm. A German contract dispute needs German litigators. Check the Chambers or Legal 500 rankings for that country and that type of work.
2. Ask who will do the work. A big name on the letterhead doesn’t help if the local office has three lawyers. CMS and DLA Piper have big teams in most EU countries; some London firms have small ones.
3. Ask about fees up front. Hourly rates at the top London firms are very high. Many continental firms will agree a fixed fee or a cap for a clear piece of work.
4. Consider a network. If you need help in five countries but don’t need a global giant, networks like Lex Mundi, Meritas or Interlaw link independent firms. Chambers ranks these networks separately for this exact reason.

FAQ

What is the largest law firm in Europe? It depends how you count. By global revenue, DLA Piper ($4.6 billion in 2025) is biggest if you count it as European, and A&O Shearman ($3.7 billion) is biggest among firms run purely from London. By lawyers in the EU, CMS leads with 2,869. Among firms based in mainland Europe, Garrigues is biggest at €527.7 million.

What are the magic circle law firms? A&O Shearman, Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Linklaters and Slaughter and May. All five are based in London.

What is the best law firm in Germany? Hengeler Mueller is the top independent German firm for big deals. By revenue in Germany, Freshfields (€573.3 million) is the largest.

What is the best law firm in Spain? Garrigues is the largest. Uría Menéndez wins the most high-value M&A, and Cuatrecasas sits between them on revenue.

Are US firms like Kirkland & Ellis European law firms? No. They have large offices in London and other European cities, but they’re headquartered and run in the US.

Which European law firms merged recently? A&O Shearman (2024), HSF Kramer (2025), Winston Taylor (2026), and Hogan Lovells with Cadwalader (agreed 2026).

Which European law firm is the most profitable per partner? Among firms that publish, DLA Piper ($4.14 million), Clifford Chance ($3.1 million) and A&O Shearman ($2.9 million) lead. Slaughter and May may beat all of them, but it doesn’t publish its numbers.

Before you go

Law firm numbers change every summer when the UK firms publish their April year end, and every spring for the continental firms. We’ll update this list as new results come in.