Shoosmiths has today announced a record £80 million profit in its results for the 2025/26 financial year, with profit per equity partner (PEP) exceeding £1 million for the second consecutive year, as the firm continues to invest in innovative technology, clients and high value-work.
Published: 29 June 2026
Underlying turnover is up 5% and underlying profit up 11%, excluding the divested Serious Injury business.Turnover is up 2%, to £221.4m and profit climbed to £80.0m, up 4%. Profit per equity partner rose 3% to £1.04m.
The results reflect the deliberate approach by the firm to where it competes, the work it selects and the strategic capabilities it is building.
Investment in innovative technologies continued with a multi-million-pound programme that included Project Apollo - a proprietary Generative AI-powered contract review platform built with Microsoft.
David Jackson, CEO of Shoosmiths, said:
“The business remains highly focused and disciplined, with profit growth again outpacing revenue growth. That matters because it gives us the capacity to keep investing in our people and technology, so we can deliver better outcomes for our clients.
“It also sends a clear signal to the market about the firm we are building: One increasingly focused on complex, higher-value work where clients need judgement, pace and confidence from their advisers with matters spanning complex cross-border private equity and major real estate deals to heavyweight litigation and restructuring mandates.
“Shoosmiths is combining outstanding legal judgement with the confidence to invest in technology, data and client delivery doing that from a position of real financial strength.”
The year ended 31 March 2026 saw Shoosmiths act on more complex and higher-value mandates across its three key pillars:
In corporate, the firm advised Five Arrows Principal Investments on the merger of Totalmobile and Solvares Group, creating a larger international software group with a combined presence across Northern Europe. The transaction involved Deutsche Beteiligungs AG and required co-counsel support across Germany and France.
Additionally, the firm are also at the forefront of professional services sector transactions, advising on complex PE‑backed investments, consolidations and growth strategies, including acting for Apax‑backed S&W Group on its acquisitions of ClearViewIP and Peppercorn Tax as part of a wider buy‑and‑build consolidation strategy, alongside mandates for Northridge (Cordillera PE investment), Azets (multiple acquisitions), Kreston Reeves (£200m advisory group formation), Parabellum Investments (sale of Parseq), and Cow Corner (refinancing of One Point Advisory Services).
The corporate team’s market position was recognised externally when it was named London’s most prolific UK-based M&A adviser by deal volume, after the firm acted on more City M&A matters than any other firm in 2025 - the fourth consecutive year of top ranking.
In litigation, Shoosmiths is acting for the joint liquidators of the former Somerfield Supermarkets business who have brought claims exceeding £450m against various entities of the Co-operative Group. The claims include what is reputed to be one of the largest transaction at an undervalue claims ever brought in the UK courts and relate to the Co-operative Group’s acquisition of circa 500 stores from the old Somerfield business shortly before it went fell into administration in 2017.
The firm also successfully advised Madagascar Oil, in a precedent-setting high-stakes dispute between two key lenders making this the first known instance of a “one versus one” restructuring plan used to resolve a stand-off. The team devised an innovative legal strategy, leveraging the UK’s restructuring plan regime in a novel way, including the first comprehensive use of a tightly case-managed Court process
In real estate, the firm has advised on a number of exciting matters; The PRS REIT plc on the real estate aspects of its £1.1 billion sale of The PRS REIT Holding Company Ltd to UK Housing Platform Bidco Ltd. Also advising Torsion Group and Khalbros on the £1bn acquisition of Eastgate Quarter Leeds and Kwik Fit - part of European Tyre Enterprise Limited and one of the UK’s leading tyre, MOT, and car servicing retailers, on the acquisition of a portfolio of 83 UK properties.Shoosmiths also advised VGP on its first major UK acquisition and development platform, comprising four logistics sites and supporting the European client’s entry into the UK market.
These mandates reflect the continued evolution of Shoosmiths’ work mix, with increasing emphasis on matters where complexity, sector knowledge, commercial judgement and cross-practice delivery are central to client outcomes.
Shoosmiths has also continued to drive AI fluency across the firm. During the previous financial year, it launched its £1m for 1 million prompts campaign to build confidence in the everyday use of AI. It has since committed further investment to support more purposeful use cases focused on client service, productivity and lawyer development.
David Jackson commented:
“Our investment in AI is part of the same strategy. Apollo, built with Microsoft and launched last week, takes the experience of our lawyers and makes it more consistent, more transparent and more useful to clients. It is not technology for its own sake. It is about improving the way excellent legal work is delivered.
“This has been a year of real progress for Shoosmiths,” Kirsten Hewson, Chairperson of Shoosmiths, said.
“Clients are dealing with more complexity, more pressure and more change. They want advisers who bring judgement, commerciality and pace, alongside the confidence to use technology where it genuinely improves outcomes.
“That is where the firm is focused. We are investing in the future of the firm while staying close to what has always set us apart: strong relationships, excellent people and a practical understanding of what clients actually need.”
David Jackson, chief executive of Shoosmiths, said: “With our platform, developing lawyers can learn more, faster. Our self-developed generative AI software enables the firm to deploy its collective dealmaking expertise at scale, allowing lawyers to not only see what amendments have been made, but most significantly, why.”
With the cumulative experience of Shoosmiths’ lawyers embedded directly into its architecture, including its market-leading M&A know-how*, Shoosmiths’ AI platform allows lawyers to review contracts more quickly, apply market standards more consistently and make market-informed recommendations at scale. Through the playbooks generated in line with client expectations, the platform ensures each mark-up also reflects the preferred language, risk profile and commercial position of each client. A senior lawyer reviews and signs off all output from the AI tool.
“We have advised on more M&A deals in the City than any firm for four years running. This puts that experience in the hands of every lawyer in the firm, from day one”, added Jackson. “Our best-in-class tool will not only cut time in the contract review process for all our lawyers, but it will also enhance the quality and consistency of advice, accelerate deal delivery and fast-track the development of the next generation of lawyers.”
Darren Hardman, CEO, Microsoft UK & Ireland, said: "Law firms hold enormous expertise and the challenge is always how to share it. Project Apollo is a strong example of AI doing what it does best: taking the knowledge of Shoosmiths' most experienced lawyers and making it available to everyone in the firm, at every stage of their career. The fact that it explains its reasoning at every step makes it a genuine learning tool, not just a productivity one. That's what good AI adoption looks like, and we're proud to have supported them in building it."
Shoosmiths’ decision, taken over a year ago, to invest in building its own AI technology was an early example of the shift away from off-the-shelf solutions announced by some other firms recently, and underpins Shoosmiths’ innovation-led growth strategy. Shoosmiths’ AI contract review tool is one of a range of solutions developed by Shoosmiths and strengthens its position at the forefront of legal technology adoption. Building on this commitment to innovation, the firm has recently launched its AI Fluency Framework, a strategic initiative designed to encourage and assess the effective application of AI in delivering meaningful business and client outcomes.