Revealed: Newcastle's £10m law firm manager
The managing director of a Newcastle personal injury firm is expecting to generate a salary package of £10m by the end of the financial year, making him one of the most highly remunerated members of the profession.
Jeff Winn, who set up Winn Solicitors a little more than a decade ago and has 80 per cent ownership of the group, expects it to generate profits of £12.1m for the 2012/13 year, while turnover will hit £32.8m.
Winn is optimistic in the face of a personal injury market that is facing a Government-led overhaul in April.
“We’ll continue to invest and aim for 30 per cent growth until that dies,” said Winn. “There will be great consolidation in the market and it wouldn’t surprise me if there’s six to 10 PI firms that dominate 70 per cent of the market in two to three years’ time.”
The dilemma for these firms is that, under pressure from the insurance industry, the Government is abolishing referral fees and is set to introduce what Winn calls ‘draconian’ reductions in fees for low-value road traffic cases going through the RTA portal.
Winn said that would mean slicing a chunk of staff time spent on every case to still make them cost-effective.
He asserts that his low-overhead, high-efficiency model, which operates out of a former Safeway supermarket in Byker, Newcastle, is the business model that all other firms should be following.
Winn, who admitted that he has never run a personal injury claim from start to finish, has grown the business by around 30 per cent year-on-year. He is on the hunt for a third-party investment partner to “rapidly grow” and take advantage of faltering rivals in the sector.
Winn said his five-year strategy will be pushed through over the next 18 months on the back of a pending ABS approval and “advanced negotiations” about external investment.
In 2011/12, the legal side of the business made £5.7m profit from £14.5m turnover.
For more on Winn and Winn Solicitors, read this week’s feature.
Readers' comments (15)
Tyson | 4-Feb-2013 12:18 pm
That's Newcastle for you. It's a super abundant legal market. Surprised more of the big regionals haven't cottoned on and opened offices.
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Youseff | 4-Feb-2013 12:19 pm
Terrific. A genuine leading law firm from the North East. Well done.
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Froome | 4-Feb-2013 12:19 pm
Someone should tell Jeff Winn to spend more upon marketing and quayside offices..
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Anon | 4-Feb-2013 12:19 pm
Is that the stock photo of Newcastle? Byker looks a little different.
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Anon | 4-Feb-2013 12:19 pm
£10m!
That's an amazing achievement. Probably wants to take some tax advice though, as even getting the payment through dividend rather than salary would save him money.
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Anon | 4-Feb-2013 12:20 pm
Deserves to be recognised as one of the entrepreneurs of the year in Newcastle. Very impressive.
Unfortunately I suspect the local press will ignore his success and instead write breathy articles about firms which have nice pens and biscuits.
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Ben | 4-Feb-2013 1:23 pm
I've met Jeff several times at various events and he's a smashing chap who deserves all the plaudits the press are giving him.
There are lots of firms in the UK that make serious money but don't trumpet themselves every 5 mins.
Claimant and Defendant PI firms (at the moment in any event) are making serious money and running very efficient and effective business models, but as their clients don't read the legal press they don't need to boast.
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Anonymous | 4-Feb-2013 1:24 pm
I'm a bit surprised by the number of people lauding Jeff's performance when compared to traditional partnerships. Why is it better for one person to make the big bucks than have it shared around a number of people?
Presumably one of the elements of a low-overhead, high efficiency model is a lot of low paid employees churning out work (and who have little prospect of moving up the ladder). Do we really want to move towards a model with greater disparity between the top and the bottom?
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Anon | 4-Feb-2013 2:06 pm
@anon 1.09pm - Really? Are you trying to say there isn't disparity between top and bottom in all of the major law firms? Well done Jeff. As much as I despise the industry you are in, I have great admiration for the business you have built and particularly where you have built it.
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Phil | 4-Feb-2013 2:57 pm
@anon 2.03pm
'greater'
I've no doubt that Jeff is a great entrepreneur but the model of one guy at the top earning £10m and the rest (presumably) earning a pittance is hardly the direction the industry should be moving in. The article is obviously a bit short on details (maybe he plans to give everyone who works for him whopping bonuses) but I wouldn't count on it.
At least in a traditional partnership model there is at least a structured career path toward partnership - even if many don't succeed.
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Pro Bono | 4-Feb-2013 3:55 pm
It rather proves the government / insurance industry's case that this area of law has been grossly over-remunerated.
Volume PI work is, despite the pious pronouncements of its practitioners, largely unskilled work. The industry managed to pull the wool when negotiating recoverable costs last time, pretending that the work was actually being done by solicitors. when in fact it's nearly all dealt with by low wage paralegals.
They've now killed the goose that laid the golden egg with their greed and it's no longer an industry that I'd want to invest in.
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Anon | 4-Feb-2013 3:55 pm
Traditional partnership died in autumn 2007.
Prior to that people worked up the ladder and if they were good enough they made partner.
Now people work up the ladder and if they're good enough, then they're given a meaningless title like 'Director'.
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Matthew Rippon | 4-Feb-2013 4:28 pm
"Good enough they made partner". Good enough in what sense. Good lawyers? Good business developers? Good managers? The reason for the parlous state in which the mid-market firms find themselves is the traditional partnership model, which failed to recognise and reward entrepreneurial and management talent at the expense of the time-served backroom biller.
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Anon | 4-Feb-2013 5:34 pm
Matthew, that's nonsense.
I agree that the mid-market is in freefall. However it's because so many talented associates have left the middle market and migrated to the bigger firms.
If you're not going to get promoted, why not get paid 35% more by working for a big firm?
Clients have gone with the people who did their work, rather than the entrepreneur who didn't.
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Anonymous | 6-Feb-2013 2:56 pm
Excuse my ignorance but can someone explain what "a salary package of £10m" means please?
£12.1m profits x 80% = £9.68m. Is he simply taking out all the profits before the end of March and disappearing into the sunset before Jackson kicks in?
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