Irwin Mitchell
UK 200 RESULTS 2010
Movement since 2009
Turnover (£M):
Profit per equity partner (£K):
Earnings per partner (£K):
Equity spread (£K):
Net profit (£M):
Profit margin (%):
Revenue per fee-earner (£K):
Revenue per lawyer (£K):
Revenue per partner (£K):
Revenue per equity partner (£K):
Total number of fee-earners:
Total number of qualified lawyers:
Total number of partners:
Total number of equity partners:
Total number of female partners:
Total number of female equity partners:
Total number of staff:
Leverage ratio (fee-earners per equity partner):
UP
157
540
325.22
150-700
28
18
160.9
359.3
1,365.2
3,019.2
976
437
115
52
32
10
2,150
7.4
Total revenue at Irwin Mitchell declined by 0.6 per cent during 2009-10, from £158m to £157m. Average profit per equity partner also contracted, by 12.2 per cent, from £615,000 to £540,000.
This, however, comes after the firm had its most successful year to date in 2008-09. The falling figures also serve to reflect the firm’s investments, including the opening of an office in Bristol in February this year.
Taking a five-year snapshot, the firm’s revenue has increased by 40.2 per cent since the 2005-06 year-end, when the firm posted a turnover of £112m. Over the same period the partnership has expanded from 96 to 115, although it also introduced the partner equivalent position of associate director during the past year (Irwin Mitchell also created a career path for non-lawyers when it converted to a legal disciplinary practice).Including associate directors, the firm has 102 litigators working at partner level producing an average revenue of £1.3m each.
At the end of the last financial year the firm’s 115 partners posted a revenue per partner of £1.36m, down by 3.26 per cent from £1.41m a year earlier.
Irwin Mitchell’s practice is dominated by contentious work. The litigation group accounts for 85 per cent of overall revenue, the equivalent of £133.45m, up slightly from the £134m posted at the 2008-09 year-end.
In the latest partnership promotions round the firm made up seven, including financial director Mark Dakin and costs manager Steven Green.
The litigation practice spans a number of areas, from high-volume defence work for insurer clients such as Aviva to higher-profile specialist cases such as FSA criminal investigations.
Irwin Mitchell is one firm that has not been shy about its enthusiasm for the Legal Services Act, although it refuses to divulge exactly what those plans are and how it will action them. But the next phase of its growth is likely to come from investment into the corporate practice.
UK 200 RESULTS 2009
Movement since 2008
Turnover (£M):
Profit per equity partner (£K):
Earnings per partner (£K):
Equity spread (£K):
Net profit (£M):
Profit margin (%):
Revenue per fee-earner (£K):
Revenue per lawyer (£K):
Revenue per partner (£K):
Revenue per equity partner (£K):
Total number of fee-earners:
Total number of qualified lawyers:
Total number of partners:
Total number of equity partners:
Total number of female partners:
Total number of female equity partners:
Total number of staff:
Leverage ratio (fee-earners per equity partner):
DOWN
158.0
615
350.0
200 - 800
33.8
21
171
396
1,411
2,873
923
399
112
55
34
11
2,148
6.25
For national firm Irwin Mitchell, 2009 was marked by a change of leadership.
The former head of the firm’s personal injury division John Pickering was elected as managing partner in November 2008, replacing Howard Culley in April this year.
Pickering, a 20-year veteran at the firm, took over during a year that saw a turnover increase of 9 per cent, up from £145m in the 2007-08 financial year to £158m in 2009.
In what was a solid year for the firm, the partnership swelled by 11 to reach 112, with four more partners making equity. Average profit per equity partner increased from £520,000 to £615,000.
Last October the firm boosted its partnership ranks with the hire of Bracher Rawlins litigation partner Jeremy Marshall and Davenport Lyons employment partner John Hayes in London, and Keeble Hawson corporate chief Paul Johnson in Leeds.
In April the hiring continued with a raid on BPE Solicitors’ Birmingham office, which saw a team of 10 join the firm. Three partners – in corporate finance, insolvency and commercial litigation – joined Irwin Mitchell in a move to diversify beyond its private client, insurance and personal injury focus.
The total number of lawyers across the firm's seven offices (Birmingham, Glasgow, London, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield) increased from 372 to 399 despite 16 redundancies, the majority of which took place in the firm’s conveyancing practice.
A look back at the firm’s figures shows that Irwin Mitchell experienced a £28m jump in turnover in 2007-08, but over the same period the firm’s profit margin dropped from 20 to 18 per cent.
However, this year the margin returned to form, hitting 21 per cent with help from the partnership, which increased earnings per partner (EPP) from £309,000 in 2008 to £350,000 in 2009.
Showing clear optimism that differs from its peers, the firm announced plans to boost its September 2009 trainee intake.
The firm recruited its 27 trainees for September 2009 and increased its number of places by five.
NEWS
Irwin Mitchell clinical negligence head replaces Napier as City chief
Irwin Mitchell has named Alison Eddy as London managing partner, the first time a woman has held a top regional position at the firm.
FEATURES
Speak up, ladies
Is it surprising that Alison Eddy, Irwin Mitchell’s highly rated clinical negligence head and newly anointed London managing partner, is the first woman to hold a regional managing partner role at the firm? Probably not.
