CMS records year of strong growth in 2021

CMS, a leading global law firm, today announces revenues for the financial year January-December 2021 of EUR 1.746bn.

The results reflect a positive year for CMS, translating into year-on-year growth of 18%. While dealing with the continued economic and societal ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic, CMS focused on clients and meeting their needs. For example, the CMS Breach Assistant app provides businesses with guidelines and tools on how to navigate data breaches. Similarly, the Global Growth Initiative enabled CMS to better understand clients’ needs in various markets and deepen existing relationships.

Of the financial year, Pierre-Sébastien Thill, CMS Chairman, said: “Over the last two years, the ways in which we do business have perhaps been altered irrevocably, but with many of our clients at the vanguard of these changes, we at CMS were able to support them throughout this evolution by continually expanding the breadth and depth of our services. This is directly reflected in our strong, financial performance based largely on organic growth.”

Investing in people

This year saw an unprecedented number of global promotions to partner within the firm. A total of 60 appointments were made across 33 cities in Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa, with women accounting for 43% of partner promotions globally.

The promotions reflect a successful year for CMS, underscoring the firm’s commitment to investing, nurturing and trusting in its people, keeping to the principles of the Diversity & Inclusion Charter which was launched in 2021.

CMS Chairman Pierre-Sébastien Thill commented: “As a future-facing firm, we are responsible for investing in our people by providing supportive and progressive measures that enable everyone to thrive and reach their full potential. To see so many partner promotions in one year is testament to the calibre of the team and the inclusive nature of the firm.”

International expansion

In 2021, CMS completed the integration of Kluge, a rapidly growing and acclaimed Norwegian firm with offices in Bergen, Oslo and Stavanger. With this, CMS has established its presence in a region with multiple opportunities in renewables, technology and M&A, building Kluge’s established market expertise into the CMS offering.

CMS Executive Partner Dr Duncan Weston added: “Kluge’s international mindset and innovative approach are a great fit for CMS. With this expansion, our clients gained access to a Nordic market with significant potential and, in turn, Norwegian companies can rely on support from CMS experts when expanding into new markets.”

Prioritising ESG

To support clients operating in this space, the firm established a taskforce dedicated to providing counsel in this rapidly changing sector. CMS has developed a number of services and products to support clients in ESG-related matters, including Green Trail, an AI audit tool designed to evaluate a company’s ESG position, identify opportunities and detect risks in due diligence processes.

CMS Executive Director Isabel Scholes stressed the importance of internal sustainability efforts: “In August of last year, we filed our first annual Communication on Progress report with the UN. We continually improve the integration of the Global Compact and its principles into our business strategy, culture and daily operations. This is an essential step in ‘walking our talk’ as a responsible business and we remain committed to working towards a more sustainable, prosperous future for all.”

Technology and innovation

In 2021, the CMS-backed collaboration platform Lupl launched globally. Lupl is a shared workspace that eases the challenges law firms and legal departments typically encounter when working on legal matters within and between organisations. CMS is a founding investor in the platform, having launched in May 2020 as a collaboration between three major global law firms, CMS, Cooley and Rajah & Tann Asia.