Editors' Blog

‘Tis the season to be…

Posted 31/05/2007 by Alex Novarese

Thanks to the popularity of our Legal Week Wiki pay round special with both readers and posters, we have decided to extend the model with a table and thread dedicated to the incoming financial results from the UK’s leading law firms.

The table of 2006-07 results for the UK top 50 will be updated as the numbers come in, allowing readers to get a rolling snapshot of the relative performance of their firm as the reporting season gets underway.

With some results already in for 20 firms, including this week magic circle duo Clifford Chance (CC) and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, it’s already possible to get some flavour of how the financial year is shaping up.

Unsurprisingly, given the solid levels of commercial activity, it looks set to be a strong year overall, with CC, SJ Berwin, Ashurst, Osborne Clarke and Halliwells emerging as early star performers.

But the results so far suggest that this year is likely to be far more dramatic than a list of boringly uniform double-digit rises across the board. With some wildly diverging performances, at least by the standards of the legal profession, some firms will be coming under real pressure to hold their market position.

Nevertheless, with top performers posting dramatically rising profits – more than half of the firms to so far report have unveiled rises in average partner profits of 15% or more – there will be renewed calls to share more of the wealth with hard-worked assistants.

Whatever your view, and whether the reporting season has given your firm cause for celebration or gloom, you can post your thoughts here.

alex.novarese@legalweek.com