Pannone presses for S&G deal in wake of failed Cobbetts bid

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Having previously pursued a merger with the now defunct Cobbetts (as it turned out, a lucky reprieve), Pannone’s current discussions with Australian-listed Slater & Gordon (S&G) are seeing talks over which parts of the Manchester-based firm’s diverse business will be included in any deal.

With the firm effectively split into four limbs: its commercial arm; the private client, clinical negligence and personal injury business; its white label service Affinity; and Connect2Law network, discussions are ongoing as to whether the latter two divisions fit with S&G’s model.

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Outsourcing giant Capita unveils plans to enter legal market as first ABS posts healthy financial results

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Outsourcing giant Capita is to re-enter the UK legal market, having reached a conditional agreement to acquire Optima Legal Services, subject to approval from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). Capita submitted an alternative business structure (ABS) licence application last week.

In an ironic twist, Capita’s plans have emerged three years after the SRA ordered Optima to break ties with the outsourcing group after the regulator found the relationship had breached rules governing non-lawyer investment in firms.

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SRA reviews firm finances amid ‘perfect storm’ while KPMG reveals cost of Cobbetts collapse

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The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has begun an evaluation of financial data gathered from 2,000 law firms after warning earlier this summer that an increasing number of the UK’s 11,000 law firms face financial collapse due to a ‘toxic combination of factors causing a perfect storm’. Elsewhere, the latest report from KPMG reveals the total bill for winding down Cobbetts currently stands at nearly £1.7m.

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ABS growing pains: Co-op Legal Service’s losses simply teething troubles, says GC

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With news that Co-operative Legal Services (CLS) has posted a £3.4m loss in the for first half of 2013, the group’s recently installed general counsel Alistair Asher says the business is still in its infancy and will flourish, provided it has the appropriate levels of investment. The loss comes despite turnover in the Co-op’s legal arm growing by 5.8% on last year to £18.1m.

GC to the board of The Co-operative Group, Asher said: ‘The top line is growing so the bottom line will improve. CLS is still a start-up business so it is not a case of turning anything around, it’s actually about developing the business and moving forward. CLS is one of the biggest business opportunities for The Co-operative Group right now. We have got the business model we need, we just need to give it support and investment so it can grow.’ Continue reading “ABS growing pains: Co-op Legal Service’s losses simply teething troubles, says GC”

Merger frenzy hikes LB100 income but growth masks another tough year

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Lawyer count passes 60,000 but profits fall at top UK firms

The latest Legal Business 100 results show the total revenue of the UK’s top 100 law firms has topped £19bn for the first time, while the number of lawyers across those firms has passed the 60,000 mark, also a first. However, this top-line growth is largely the result of another year of fervent merger activity, masking the fact that on a granular level many firms are struggling to achieve revenue and profit growth.

Total revenue for the LB100 for 2012/13 is £19.1bn, an increase of 8%, while total lawyer headcount swelled 10% to 61,299. However, average revenue per lawyer (RPL) is down 2% to £312,000, while profit per lawyer (PPL) and profits per equity partner (PEP) are down 2% and 4% to £95,000 and £622,000 respectively.

The primary cause for this year’s drop in RPL and PPL is the swathe of mergers over the past year, particularly among firms in the top 25.

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LB100 – The top 25: The age of turbulence

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It’s been a bumpy ride for many of the UK’s largest firms, fighting battered profits with consolidation and increased global expansion. Welcome to the Legal Business 100, where headline revenue increases hide a tougher reality

When the UK’s 62nd largest law firm by revenue is suddenly wiped off the face of the earth, despite posting a 2% revenue increase in 2011/12, you’d expect a little nervousness within the profession. Cobbetts, which went into administration in March, posted a profit per equity partner (PEP) increase of 16% in its last-ever LB100 appearance, something that many of the firms occupying the list today would gladly take. But, as it would turn out – as has been the case ever since the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers – when it comes to law firm financials, all is not what it seems. And, as the demise of Halliwells proved in 2010, it takes more than the collapse of a regional stalwart to seriously unhinge the market.

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LB 100 – The second quartile: Wind swept

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Mid-pack advisers faced contrasting fortunes over the year, with many generalists seeing margins under continued pressure, while a sizeable band of confident City and insurance players rode the winds

With a combined total of 9,859 lawyers, 1,416 equity partners, £2.46bn in revenue and profits of £578.7m, the firms ranked 26-50 in the LB100 lag significantly behind the top 25 as a group.

Revenue at the average firm in the upper quartile of firms is up 9%, inflated by the wave of mergers that has boosted the income at firms such as Dentons and Herbert Smith Freehills, while firms ranked 26-50 managed average revenue growth of 7%.

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LB 100 – The second 50: Scattered in the wind

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The gulf between success and failure among the firms occupying the second half of the LB100 is as pronounced as ever. From highly profitable boutiques to ravaged regionals desperate for a merger, we chart the haves and the have-nots

Collectively making up just a tenth of the LB100 firms’ total 2012/13 revenue for 2012/13 of £19.1bn, law firms ranked between 51 to 100 in the table can be polar opposites. The gap between high and low performing firms in these two quartiles is as startling, with profit per lawyer (PPL) varying from £177,000 at ascendant litigation specialist Stewarts Law to just £15,000 at the beleaguered Manches.

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LB 100 – The Five Year View: Riders on the Storm

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A five-year view of the LB100 underlines the profound impact globalisation has had on the UK’s top firms but also the soaring success of the best mid-pack players. Legal Business analyses the winners and losers since Lehman unleashed a storm

The five years that have passed since 2008, when the previous year’s credit crunch morphed into full economic meltdown, have been, in relative terms, the bleakest period economically in the UK since the Second World War. Yet despite this, with the exception of 2009/10, when total revenues tumbled 14%, collectively the UK legal profession has grown remarkably during that period. In our 2008 report, total turnover of the top 100 firms was £13.96bn. This year, those top 100 firms have amassed revenues of £19.1bn, an increase of 37%. Continue reading “LB 100 – The Five Year View: Riders on the Storm”