We continue to deliver on our international private capital growth strategy. Last November marked an important milestone for our Milan office, which launched a year earlier. The arrival of our Partner, Annapaola Negri-Clementi, and her team to Milan, and their planned move to a new office in 2026, has firmly established it as a core part of our European network. In Asia we continued to invest in our Hong Kong and Singapore offices, broadening and deepening the range of services we offer our clients.

Investment in outstanding talent has been a central pillar of our international growth. In 2025, we welcomed 21 lateral partners across the UK, Asia, the Middle East and Europe, strengthening our Commercial, Corporate, Corporate Restructuring and Insolvency, Corporate Tax and Incentives, Dispute Resolution, Financial Services Regulatory and Funds, Intellectual Property and Real Estate practices. We also celebrated the promotion of 12 new partners, recognising their excellent performance as well as our own commitment to internal progression.

Our purpose is underlined in our new Responsible Business strategy, which will shape how we deliver value for our clients, our people and the communities we serve over the coming years.

It underscores our long-held belief that responsible business is not separate from commercial success, but integral to it. Drawing together our responsible business commitments across six key impact areas, it outlines our objectives to ensure accountability and maximise impact as we look to build a Firm that is fit for the future.

We have continued to invest in and grow our global networks to strengthen our culture and foster connection and opportunity, including our expanding Women in Leadership initiative. This has been supported by our overarching People strategy, as we strive to reduce barriers to entry and progression within our Firm.

We are working hard to sustain a strong and diverse talent pipeline, with investment in early talent initiatives, including Career Start, Headstart and Career in Law. This has been bolstered by our wellbeing survey, our focus on upholding our standards, and our technology and AI upskilling – the latter a growing part of our evolving learning and development offer. This progress reflects our ongoing commitment to responsible leadership and our investment in our Firm for the long term.

I would like to thank our clients for their continued trust, and our people for their dedication, and look forward to the year ahead. We hope you enjoy reading our 2025 Annual Review and as always, we welcome your feedback.