Mishcon de Reya expects to trade even more strongly in 2021/22 that it did last year, when the contingency measures it took to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 proved to be unnecessary. Turnover and operating profits both held up well in the year to 9 April 2021, annual acounts newly filed at Companies House show.

Turnover fell by 1.7% to £188.9m in the year to 9 April 2021 while profit before members’ remuneration edged up 1.4% to £75.7m.

The firm’s top earner took home just over £2m last year, down slightly from £2.2m the previous year, while an unspecified number of ‘key management personnel’ shared £16.3m compared to just under £17m in 2020. Mishcon disclosed last August that profit per equity partner rose 5% to £1,050,000.

Mishcon said the impact of the pandemic in 2020/21 was ‘mitigated by redeploying resources from quieter practice areas to busier practice areas’ and participating in the government’s furlough scheme, as well as ‘strictly managing costs, reducing where appropriate’.

The firm also reduced partner drawings and put a temporary freeze on profit distribution payments, but – as performance last year was ‘significantly ahead of our financial forecasts’ – Mishcon was able to reverse the decision to reduce drawings and reinstate profit distribution. The firm also repaid furlough cash.

Mishcon said its ‘performance in 2021/22 so far has been very strong compared to the same period in 2020/21’, adding that the firm is ‘well placed to capitalise on business opportunities and to meet the challenges ahead’.

The upbeat forecast will be welcome news for the firm in the build-up to a long-awaited London IPO, which passed a major partner vote in September but is not alluded to in the accounts.

Mishcon has suffered a bumpy few months with a £232,500 fine imposed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority earlier this month over several breaches relating to money laundering rules following a £25,000 sanction from the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal in October over breaches of banking facility rules.

The firm has also lost a total of 18 lawyers, including seven partners, to international firm Greenberg Traurig, plus the head of its international arbitration practice to Taylor Wessing and a dispute resolution partner to Charles Russell Speechlys.