 David Middleton
Ask most northerners, especially those at successful law firms,
and they will tell you that it is only grim up north if you do
not pull your weight. And there have been a lot of people who
have been pulling more than their weight, judging by the
figures posted by firms in The Rising 50 from this region.
Northern firms claimed three of the top five positions; the other two are held by
Scottish firms. Northern firms also took five of the top 25 spots, which is equal to
their southern counterparts.
The revenue per partner (RPP) table also throws up some interesting news for the
North. Silverbeck Rymer and Golds - both northern firms - hold the top two positions,
with the former firm rewriting the rules with its stratospheric RPP figure of
£4.1m. And Golds, with offices in Glasgow and Manchester and its figure of £1.2m,
leaves all other firms bar Silverbeck in its wake.
After that the spread in RPP among northern firms is considerably more even, with
Forbes the only other firm to post a RPP above £500,000. In contrast, Ricksons and
James Chapman & Co fill the bottom two spots in this table.
Many of the managing partners of the firms in this wide geographical region,
which stretches from Liverpool to Newcastle and takes in Leeds on the way, are quick
to point out that the legal market in the North "is buoyant". However, the argument
could be just as well made that the main game being played is consolidation.
Watson Burton senior partner Andrew Hoyle makes no secret that this is now a
central plank of the firm's plan. The growth spurt is over for the time being, with 14
new partners, a Leeds opening and a 30 per cent turnover increase in the past year.
The leading corporate and commercial firms in the North are all too aware of how
well many of their larger cousins have done. Firms such as Addleshaw Goddard, DLA
Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, Eversheds, Hammonds, Irwin Mitchell, Pinsent Masons and
Walker Morris are all firmly embedded into the UK 100, and all have roots in this region.
For the contenders, the key is a quality service at a more competitive rate than
most southern firms can afford thanks to the lower cost base. "To be and be seen as
a very sensible alternative to the larger firms is the key," said one managing partner.
In essence that sums up everything these regionals have to offer.
Keeble Hawson is one such firm that knows exactly where it wants to be. In at 43
on the turnover table with £10m, the firm generates an RPP of £385,000. As the managing
partner of the firm's Leeds office Charles Rothwell puts it: "Our intention is
to be a serious alternative to DLA Piper, without a London base."
 Matt Byrne
Last year's inaugural Rising 50 included six firms from north of
the border, with combined revenues of £70.9m. This year comparisons
bode well for the health of Scotland's legal market.
Ten firms made The Rising 50 this year, with a combined turnover of £133.7m, or
21 per cent of the total. It makes Scotland the third-largest contributor of revenues
to The Rising 50 turnover total of £623.4m. Incidentally, a Scottish firm, Biggart Baillie, secured the number one spot in
the table, while three Scottish firms
made the top 10.
The performance reflects the health of
the Scottish legal market. Although it is
dominated by a big four - Dundas & Wilson,
Maclay Murray & Spens, McGrigors
and Sheppard + Wedderburn - it is also
home to a large number of robust mid-size
players, several of which feature in TheUK
100 Annual Report.
However, it was The Rising 50's new
entry Turcan Connell, a private client
boutique, that secured the number one
position out of the Scottish firms in the
all-important revenue per partner (RPP)
table in The Rising 50. The firm, a spinout
from Dundas & Wilson several
years ago, has successfully carved itself
a niche, advising many of Scotland's
high-net-worth individuals, and with
an RPP of £844,000 it compares
favourably with many of the firms in
the UK 100.
Another new entry to the table, and a
significant one to boot, is construction
and engineering heavyweight Mac-
Roberts. A split in the firm's strategic direction
two years ago led to an exodus of
partners that kept MacRoberts in the
headlines for all the wrong reasons. This
year, a new managing partner in the shape
of projects partner Michael Murphy and
a less frenetic lawyer turnover sees the firm
in better shape, with a solid gross fee figure
of £15.8m. The firm scores well in the
RPP table, in 20th place with £510,000,
but does less well when revenue per lawyer
figures are considered - it comes third
from bottom, with £122,000.
Scotland provided one of the major
merger stories of the year. Henderson
Boyd Jackson is to merge with Midlands
firm Gateley Wareing on 1 January 2006,
to form the £30m HBJ Gateley Wareing.
A comparison of the two firms' RPP figures
makes interesting reading. The English
firm, in at number 96 in the UK 100
this year bested Hendersons by some way
- £633,000 to £420,000.
And Hendersons was not the only
Scottish firm looking south this year.
Energy specialist Ledingham Chalmers,
which boasts an RPP of just £328,000,
opened a four fee-earner London branch
earlier this year.
 Lorraine Cushnie
South East firms make up more than a fifth of this year's Rising
50. Together, the 11 firms (the group does not include
London-based outfits) have generated revenues of £143.4m.
The results confirm the continued success of firms operating
just outside the London market. That is not to say that, geographically, the firms
are all crowding the same territory. The large South East region takes in everything
from the Thames Valley to Milton Keynes.
The highest-ranking firm by turnover is Bournemouth-headquartered Lester
Aldridge. The firm has seen rapid expansion in recent years, through a London
merger and the absorption of a team of lawyers from Shoosmiths. However, it scores
less well on revenue per partner (RPP), which stands at £400,000 - one of the lowest
in the region.
Topping the RPP league table for the South East is Southampton-based Moore &
Blatch with £875,000. The figure places Moore & Blatch fourth overall for RPP. The
firm scooped second place on the revenue per lawyer (RPL) ranking, coming in at
£467,000. It also reported a remarkable turnover hike this year, raising total revenues from £10.9m to a shade over £14m.
The average RPP for the region is
£534,000, with most firms sitting
between the £400,000 and £500,000
mark. Only Thomson Snell & Passmore
falls below this bracket, with an RPP of
£355,000. In addition to Moore &
Blatch, just three firms can boast an RPP
above the average.
Milton Keynes-based Fennemores
recorded an extremely respectable RPP
of £688,000. The past 12 months saw the
firm reduce its personal injury practice
and double the size of its employment
team. It also came third overall for RPL,
with £458,000.
Insurance specialist Davies Lavery has
also done a good job of managing its
RPP, even though the firm launched a
new office in Essex and divested itself of
its corporate finance team. The firm
posted a RPP of £682,000. Davies Lavery
can also lay claim to having the best
female partner ratio in the South East
and second-highest in the Rising 50,
with 53 per cent of the 17-strong partnership
female. Kent-based 20-partner
firm Brachers also has a good ratio of
female partners, at 40 per cent.
The South West has just four representatives
in this year's The Rising 50, but they
have combined revenues of £46.4m.
Revenue per partner (RPP) among the
quartet is fairly close, with just £100,000
separating the top from the bottom.
Thring Townsend takes the top spot for
RPP with £444,000. The firm also enjoys
the highest ratio of female partners in
the region, with 30 per cent, but drops
down the revenue per lawyer (RPL) table
with just £185,000.
RPL in the South West is led by
Stephens & Scown, which has a figure of
£283,000. The Devon and Cornwall-based
firm also enjoys the highest ranking of any
of the firms in the region by turnover,
with revenues reaching £13m in the last
financial year. However, its proportion of
female partners is the worst of any practice
in the Rising 50, at just 3 per cent.
Michelmores enjoyed a solid RPP of
£400,000 last year, while Foot Anstey
came out with £368,000
|
