CMS sees substantial growth over 2020 despite COVID, due to solid technology and innovation strategy

Global law firm CMS today announces revenues for the financial year 2020 of EUR 1.475bn. This translates into a year-on-year increase of 3%. 

CMS has seen a substantial growth throughout 2020 in spite of the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, which hit CMS offices and clients across all jurisdictions.  Pierre-Sébastien Thill said, “The events of 2020 were hopefully once in a lifetime, and for many represented a very tough, and in some cases tragic, personal and professional period.

Supporting our people and clients as they navigated the challenges COVID-19 brought has been our priority and we look forward to continue to do so as they adapt to life in recovery mode.”

Technology and innovation

Meanwhile, CMS was driven by technology and innovation as they focused on key economic sectors that require global support. The past year saw CMS launch two key technology-driven innovations that were new to the legal market.

Lupl is the world’s first open industry platform for legal matters and synchronises everything that goes into a legal matter in a single secure space. The platform underwent beta testing in 2020 and launched in early 2021 to high demand.

Last year also saw CMS launch its Breach Assistant, a technology platform that gives businesses affected by a potential data breach a headstart during the first few critical hours.

CMS also made changes to its award-winning learning programme, the CMS Academy, by moving it wholesale to a digital platform, a transition that was planned pre-pandemic, alongside new regional academies in Latin America and Africa.

Getting set for growth externally and internally

CMS took several key steps to extend its geographic footprint. Last month Kluge, a fast-growing and top-ranking Norwegian firm with offices in Bergen, Oslo and Stavanger, joined CMS bringing significant sector expertise across energy, renewables and ESG, alongside the potential to launch into the wider Nordic market.

Furthermore, 2020 saw a record number of partner promotions with 52 new partners, spanning 22 cities across Europe, Latin America and Africa. Women accounted for 43% of new partner promotions in the UK and 37% of new partners globally.