Simmons, A&O lead on RPL increase

Allen & Overy (A&O) and Simmons & Simmons lead the revenue per lawyer (RPL) table off the back of combined increases in turnover and reductions in lawyer numbers.

Simmons boosted its RPL to £375,000 by reducing lawyers by more than 150 and hiking revenue to £227m. Now employing few more than 500 lawyers, Simmons has one of the leanest business models of the UK top 20. A&O achieved a similar increase by upping turnover by £70m and shaving lawyer numbers by around 100 to just under 1,900.

DLA Piper leads the chasing pack with a 28.8 per cent rise in RPL. But adding almost 100 lawyers to its army of more than 1,500 has kept the firm's RPL figure down to £226,000 - around half that of Shearman & Sterling's.

The table reflects the UK market's recent focus on productivity, making London one of the most competitive places for a law firm.