Bird & Bird says €1bn goal remains on track as revenue tops €700m

Bird & Bird has reported modest financial growth for 2025/26, but says it remains on track to hit its €1 billion revenue target despite a challenging market.

Revenue increased 4% to €702 million (£606 million), while net profit edged up 1%. Profit per equity partner slipped marginally by 1.5% to €819,000 (£707,000).

The results mark the second year of the firm's five-year strategy unveiled in 2024, which targets €1 billion in annual revenue by the end of the 2029 financial year.

Asked whether the target remained achievable, chief executive Christian Bartsch said he remained "confident" and that the current financial year had started positively, pointing to a strong pipeline of work.

Bartsch said the firm's strategy remained focused on becoming "the leading international law firm guiding organisations through a world shaped by technology, innovation and regulation".

As part of that strategy, Bird & Bird continued its international expansion during the year, opening new offices in Lisbon and Riyadh following the launch of its Tokyo office in 2024.

Responsible AI

The firm also highlighted its efforts to promote the responsible use of AI across the business.

Bartsch pointed to the firm's Digital Academy, launched at the end of last year, which trains lawyers in the use of generative AI, covering areas such as prompt engineering, data handling, and the limitations and risks of large language models.

The firm also rolled out a global AI policy covering confidentiality, data use, human oversight and quality controls.

Major mandates

Among the firm's standout matters during the year was its successful defence of Stability AI in the closely watched High Court copyright dispute brought by Getty Images over the use of copyrighted works to train the Stable Diffusion image-generation model.