Payne Hicks Beach

Turnover (£m): 20.8
RPL (£k): 365

Turnover dropped by 5.4 per cent, from £22m to £20.8m, at Lincoln’s Inn firm Payne Hicks Beach. This was principally the result of the departures of a three-partner team comprising Louise Stoten, Marcus Parker and Jane ­Bennet, who left the firm in June 2011 to set up their own practice.

However, the firm also hired partners Sarah Rushton and Sarah Webb, with the latter ­advising private investigator Glenn Mulcaire in relation to the News of the World phone-hacking scandal, from Dawsons and Russell Jones & Walker respectively. Following the moves partner numbers at Payne Hicks dropped from 32 to 27, of whom just 13 are in the equity.

Payne Hicks is most well-known for its ­family, private client and employment ­practices, which together account for 67 per cent of the firm’s turnover. However, it also has a stable of big corporate clients, including the likes of the AA, Fiat, Saga and the Salvation Army.

Payne Hicks operates a modified lockstep.