Gibson Dunn & Crutcher’s strong performance in the US M&A market last year helped drive the firm’s profits up 7% in the latest evidence of US firm’s shrugging off the slowdown in deal activity (see page 7).

The Los Angeles-based firm posted 2002 revenues of $569.35m (£360.7m) up by 6.1% from 2001, while average partner profits rose from $1.105m (£700,000) to $1.185m (£750,000).