Burges Salmon beats SW rivals in turnover results

Burges Salmon has stormed ahead of its South-West rivals with a turnover increase of almost 15 per cent.

Beachcroft Wansbroughs' strong growth follows closely behind at slightly less than 12 per cent, while Osborne Clarke's turnover has remained fairly static after a turbulent year.

Burges outstripped its performance the previous year, when turnover crept up from £30m to £31.8m, to hit £36.5m for 2002/2003.

Average profits per equity partner climbed from £279,000 to £300,000, while revenue per lawyer has increased from £151,000 to £154,000.

Senior partner Richard Wynn-Jones said the performance had been strong across the board, even in depressed areas such as corporate finance and private equity. He highlighted major instructions from the Ministry of Defence, Honda and the joint venture between Serco and NedRailways, which has successfully bid for a £3.6bn contract in Merseyside.

Beachcrofts' provisional fee income for 2002/2003 has shot up to £78.5m from £70.1m in the previous year. Total turnover, including non-fee-income for 2001/2002, was £71.5m. The firm has its second-biggest concentration of partners in Bristol.

Osborne Clarke has managed a small growth in turnover of 4 per cent, taking it from £58.5m to £61m for 2002/2003. The increase compares unfavourably with last year's turnover growth of 17 per cent, but is nevertheless impressive given that 25 partners have left the firm since January 2002, many of whom were managed out as the firm battled with falling profits.