Speechly Bircham

UK 200 RESULTS 2010

Speechly Bircham bounced back from a difficult 2008-09 to post an impressive 37 per cent hike in turnover for the 2009-10 financial year.

Revenue grew from £45.4m to £58.4m, while average profit per equity partner rose by 29 per cent, from £331,000 to £428,000. Much of the revenue growth was the result of the firm’s June 2009 merger with London firm Campbell Hooper.

The firm also brought in a four-strong specialist projects team from the now disbanded London-based Shadbolt and made hires in its pensions, financial services and IP teams.

Not all of the growth was down to the merger, however. Managing partner Michael Lingens estimates that, minus the merger, underlying growth in the business would still have seen total revenue grow by 8 per cent.

Speechlys was quick to reduce its cost base when the credit crisis hit. Between 2007-08 and 2008-09 lawyer numbers fell from 172 to 160. They have since risen to 203.

It is a testament to the degree of change the firm has undergone that only half of the current partnership was at Speechlys three years ago.

Understandably, it is now undergoing a stocktaking exercise, although the firm has not ruled out making more hires in the coming year. Lingens cites the fact that the firm operates without an overdraft as evidence of its stringent financial management.

The firm is divided into three broad practice areas: corporate, private client and property.

Corporate, which includes areas such as financial services, is the highest-billing sector at £28m; next is private client, which has held steady during the downturn and in 2009-10 turned over £15.5m; property, meanwhile, generated fees of £14.9m.

The firm has a modified lockstep running from 40 to 100 points. Partners usually go up or down by between five and 10 points each year based on performance, although in exceptional cases this can be higher.

UK 200 RESULTS 2009

Speechly Bircham is on the up. For years the firm has been resolutely stuck in the lower half of the top 100 table but that looks likely to change next year.

Its merger with West End firm Campbell Hooper came too late to be included in the 2008-09 year but with combined fees approaching £60m, the deal is likely to propel the firm into the top 50 in time for the next edition of the The Lawyer UK 200.

In the meantime, Speechlys’ figures have fallen in line with other mid-size London firms. Turnover was down slightly at £46.1m in 2008-09, while average profit per equity partner dropped 37 per cent to £331,000.

It is viewed as a setback rather than a knockout blow by managing partner Michael Lingens, who has worked hard to improve the firm’s profitability.

Ever watchful of costs, the firm laid off both associates and partners last year, a fact reflected in the fall in overall lawyer numbers from 172 to 160. In contrast, the total number of equity partners rose by 17 per cent from 23 to 29.

Corporate remained the firm’s biggest department, providing some 30 per cent of revenue despite a difficult year. Within corporate, the insolvency group did well – a mandate from the administrators of furniture chain MFI proved a welcome source of work.

But a strong year from the litigation group closed the gap: it now makes up 28.5 per cent of the firm. Property, once the star practice of the firm, now accounts for just 13.8 per cent of turnover.

The firm continued to invest in its IP/IT team, which has grown to 20 lawyers within two years. Lateral partner hires from Beachcroft and Eversheds were the latest two arrivals in January.

Speechly Bircham operates a modified lockstep, running from 35 to 100 points. Partners can move up or down the scale based on performance.