Could anyone have known what was coming? A year ago, the 2019 Legal Business 100 (LB100) report read: ‘After a credible performance, the profession now faces a slowing economy at home and abroad amid mounting unease generated by a government under Prime Minister Boris Johnson hitting an increasingly Trumpian tone on forcing the UK out of the EU.’
The report – coming as it did before Johnson’s landslide general election victory – drew on ominous imagery of Conrad, Coppola and Castro – reflecting a very palpable fear that it might be ‘Apocalypse soon?’ The message was clear, leading law firms, which increased revenues by 9% across the LB100 to hit £26.35bn, had performed well but an outlook clouded by a slowing economy, Brexit uncertainty and political instability meant harder times were coming.
