In 1992, Bill Clinton was elected US president; the Maastricht Treaty was signed and Legal Business published the financial data of 35 firms with revenues over £20m. Over the last 20 years, as the information age has developed, total revenues of the 100 largest law firms based in the UK have swelled from £2.7bn to £17.67bn, outperforming the domestic economy.
One of the most interesting aspects of our latest LB100 coverage is that some of the overlying themes of the 2011/12 financial year – that of significant merger activity and international expansion giving rise to incredible leaps in turnover – are recurrent themes of the last 20 years.
As we’ve been publishing law firm financials for two decades now, we have ventured on a trip down memory lane. Not only do we chart the key developments since 1992 and look at the winners and losers over that period, but we also get a personal perspective from three senior management figures at three very different firms.
Allen & Overy’s David Morley; Macfarlanes’ Charles Martin; and Osborne Clarke’s Simon Beswick have seen and done it all at their respective firms and provide an interesting insight into the challenges each firm has faced. One of the most interesting details to emerge is a comparison between the profit per lawyer figure of global juggernaut Allen & Overy and the assuredly conservative Macfarlanes.
As the UK’s leading law firms have needed to constantly innovate to lead the way, so have we needed to adapt to reflect a changing profession. This year is no exception, so we’ve followed up the introduction of our Major International peer group last year with a restructuring of our London peer groups. This means that City-based firms not in the Global Elite or using the international Swiss Verein model fall into one of two peer groups, City International or City Domestic.