First-to-file firms score double-digit growth

UK-based firms Osborne Clarke, Browne Jacobson, Clarke Willmott and Fladgate have all recorded double-digit revenue growth for the 2014/15 financial year, while Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP)’s partner profits reached new heights.

In a sign that the UK legal market is at its most buoyant since the 2008 financial crisis, each of Browne Jacobson’s five national offices scored sharp workload rises, with Manchester surging by 73% and London turnover up by 61%. The firm made an additional £8.7m in the last financial year, climbing to £58.9m.

With the UK accounting for around two-thirds of Osborne Clarke’s income, its sharp 15% climb in international revenue was aided by a 9% uptick in UK earnings to £97m. The top 50 firm benefited from its specialism in digital and life sciences work, as well as the robust real estate market in the UK.

BLP also rode the real estate wave, with the firm’s biggest practice partly behind a 6% climb in revenue and an even sharper rise in profitability, with profits per equity partner (PEP) up 22% to £659,000. It is the first time that BLP has surpassed the £620,000 partners achieved in the 2007/08 financial year, jumping by £117,000. Also noting a strong year in its finance group, BLP paid off the £27m in bank debt it had at the end of the last financial year and now has a positive cash balance of £12m.

Just behind BLP was the significant rise in PEP registered by Covent Garden-based Fladgate. With revenue up 13% to £37m, Fladgate reported a 17% rise in PEP from £540,000 to £630,000.

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk