Stewarts Law, the UK’s largest litigation-only firm, had an eventful 2016/17 financial year, which resulted in its third consecutive period of double-digit growth. As a standout performer across the Legal Business 100 (LB100) as a whole, the firm had a record year with turnover rising 25% to £77.9m and profit per equity partner (PEP) climbing 19% to £1.9m, seeing it move up into the top half of the LB100 for the first time. It has become recognised as one of the fastest-growing players organically in the UK legal market, with revenue growing 123% over the last five years. PEP rose 110% over the same time period.
Year-on-year performance in 2016/17 was boosted by the resolution of some significant mandates last year, most notably the £4bn shareholder group action against The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in which Stewarts’ claimant clients took a settlement offer in December 2016 in a case against RBS’ former chief executive Fred Goodwin and three other directors.
