A financial chasm opened up on Thursday in the “Magic Circle” of leading law firms as Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer unveiled record partner profits the day after its rival Clifford Chance admitted earnings had plunged by more than a third.

Freshfields’ partners received £1.444m ($2.3m) last year – almost twice as much as their counterparts at Clifford Chance, whose status as the world’s largest law firm by sales is now in doubt.