Clifford Chance has consistently ranked as one of the UK’s top 3 law firms over the past 20 years, both in terms of revenue and prestige. The firm is a member of the Magic Circle group of the UK’s more prestigious and profitable law firms.
Clifford Chance was born from the merger of two London-based law firms, Clifford Turner and Coward Chance, in 1987. The merger set the stage for its evolution into the global legal powerhouse it is today.
The firm expanded its international reach through strategic mergers, notably with Germany’s Pünder, Volhard, Weber & Axster, and the US firm Rogers & Wells in 2000.
Today, Clifford Chance is one of the world’s largest law firms, employing more than 2,500 lawyers and 550 partners across 32 offices in 22 countries.
The firm is renowned for its expertise in complex cross-border transactions, advising multinational corporations, financial institutions, governments, and international organisations.
Clifford Chance is a full service law firm, but it is particularly known for its work in finance, corporate/M&A and litigation.
Clifford Chance’s deep global network is seen as a key competitive advantage (it’s one of only a few firms that can truly describe itself as ‘global’), with offices in major financial centres across the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Like most of its Magic Circle rivals, in recent years Clifford Chance has made expansion in the US market a key part of its strategy as it looks to take on the rest of the so-called ‘global elite’ firms like Skadden and Kirkland & Ellis.
The firm has ambitious plans to double its revenue in the US and it looks like the plans are already working. In 2023/24, Clifford Chance’s US revenues surged by 28% – its best performance to date in the world’s biggest market for legal services – followed by a further 18% growth in 2024/25.
Clifford Chance makes our ranking of the UK’s most prestigious law firms.