Law firm revenues up – driven by consolidation

Posted By: James

Friday 5th June 2015

Research by Deloitte shows that turnover at Britain’s 100 largest law firms rose 6.3% on average in the last fiscal year. The rise was driven by mergers among the smaller to midsize firms with lawyers “cautiously optimistic” the market will continue to improve. Income from non-partner lawyers was up 2% for the year that ended April 30 2015, but 75% of this was attributed to a greater number of lawyers because of consolidation rather than a higher demand for legal services. Deloitte’s study suggested firms ranked in the top 50 but not the top 10 had the strongest revenue figures while those ranked 11 to 25 had a 4.4% fee income increase. Firms in the 26 to 50 bracket saw revenue growth of 6.9% and those in the 51 to 100 size bracket grew through consolidation and lateral hires. The Magic Circle will report their individual profit and revenue from around early July. The FT notes that several of the top firms, including Clifford Chance and Slaughter and May, have recently announced pay increases for their associates.

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