Bevan Brittan

Bevan Brittan saw a drop in turnover of just over 2 per cent for 2011-12, from £34.7m to £33.9m. Managing partner Duncan Weir attributed this to the growing financial pressures in its core public sector markets.

The delay to the NHS Bill also affected fee income in the first half of the financial year. Ninety per cent of Bevan Brittan’s work relates to public services, with health the largest segment followed by local government and housing along with private sector entities that provide services to the public sector.

Despite seeing revenue drop, the Bristol firm’s average profit per equity partner (PEP) remained fairly stagnant at £304,000, up just slightly on 2010-11’s £303,000. The top and bottom of equity, meanwhile, stood at £415,000 and £221,000 respectively, showing slight rises at both ends

The nominal boost in PEP was attributed to a slight fall in the number of full equity partners from 20 to 19. Weir further noted that Bevan Brittan would see a marginal cost saving coming through in the next couple of years following the outsourcing of 75 staff to business process outsourcing company Intelligent Office UK.

The firm reverted to a legal management structure in February 2012 following the exit of chief executive Andrew Manning at the end of the financial year and the appointment of Weir.