Kemp Little

London technology boutique Kemp Little has enjoyed consistent revenue growth in the past three years, with turnover climbing from £6.8m back in 2009–10 to £8.9m in the last financial year.

The financial success of 2011–12 was powered by the corporate and IP litigation practices, which generated revenue of £2.6m (up from £1.7m the previous year) and £1.3m (up from £1m) respectively.

Despite its longstanding faith in having the most up-to-date internal systems, the firm has admitted that it was a little slow in modernising its website and, in January 2012, rebranded the site at a cost of around £50,000.

The firm is also investing around £300,000 in office space for the current (2012–13) financial year, a move that will see the office become open plan and will take seating capacity from 70 to around 90, leaving plenty of room to bring in new heads (until the lease runs out in 2018). The firm currently operates in 10,000ft² of space costing £600,000 per year.

Tax, regulatory and competition (all under the umbrella of technology) are areas the firm hopes to boost in a bid to enhance its attractiveness to upmarket clients.

Net profit for the 2011–12 financial year was £3m, while the average profit per equity partner for the 10 lawyers that shared the pot was £340,000. The equity spread was £200,000 to £455,000.

The lock-up target is phenomenally aggressive at Kemp Little, just 75 days, while the actual year-end result was not far off at just 88 days in 2011–12.