Hugh James

Turnover (£m): 28.5
Average PEP: 190
Equity spread (£k): 110-220
Profit margin (%): 20
RPL (£k): 238

Cardiff-headquartered Hugh James ­remains Wales’s largest law firm, with an estimated turnover of £28.5m, which ­represents a 6.5 per cent dip from £30.5m a year earlier.

The firm voted in a new managing partner in January, with Alun Jones succeeding Mathew Tossell, who stepped down after 12 years in the job to head the volume legal services operations.

Hugh James is well-placed to take ­advantages of the Legal Services Act and all the signs are that it is preparing for that change by reorganising. Tossell now heads the firm’s volume group, branded ­’Involegal’, which aims to provide legal ­services to the banking, insurance and ­corporate sectors.

In the past financial year Santander ­Corporate Banking awarded the firm a ­contract to provide the security-taking function on all its commercial lending transactions up to £2.5m. Further clients include RBS, NEC Europe, Finance Wales and the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU). In April last year partner Gareth Williams was appointed as company secretary to the WRU.

Despite its ambitious growth plans in the consumer markets, Hugh James refuses to disclose its financials. The firm’s conversion to LLP status in October 2010 will lift the lid on its performance.