The largest 200 UK law firms of 2018 have been revealed with the publication of The Lawyer UK 200: Top 100 2018.

The full UK 200 ranking for 2017/18 confirms a legal market that remains in rude health, despite growing pressures from a number of increasingly influential competitors such as US firms and alternative providers.

This year’s 200 largest UK-headquartered law firms generated a total revenue of £25.68bn, a rise of almost 10 per cent (9.5) on 2016/17.

It is notable that the total number of fee-earners, qualified lawyers, partners and business services staff all rose by around 5 per cent. In contrast, the total number of equity partners rose by just 0.6 per cent.

This year’s UK 200 has highlighted the increasing influence of US firms and New Law providers on the UK market, with the former detailed in The Lawyer’s first-ever City 50 ranking and the latter analysed in a feature that contains exclusive data on the revenues of some of the best-known New Law providers including LOD, Axiom and Peerpoint.

As The Lawyer reported last week, the full UK 200 also contains eight new firms of which six feature in the lower half of the revenue ranking, The Independents.

The UK’s 100 largest law firms billed a record £24.1bn in 2017/18, the largest revenue ever achieved by the group and a rise of almost 10 per cent on 2016/17.

The latest edition of The Lawyer UK 200: The Top report and The UK 200: The Independents are now available.

Below we rank the top 200 law firms in the UK by revenue.

The top 200 UK law firms 2018 by revenue

Rank 2018

Rank 2017

Firm name

Revenue (£m)

1

1

DLA Piper

1,799.5

2

2

Clifford Chance

1,623.0

3

5

Hogan Lovells

1,581.0

4

3

Allen & Overy

1,570.0

5

4

Linklaters

1,523.5

6

7

Norton Rose Fulbright

1,514.0

7

6

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

1,403.0

8

9

CMS

1,138.7

9

8

Herbert Smith Freehills

926.8

10

13

Eversheds Sutherland

721.8

11

10

Ashurst

564.0

12

11

Clyde & Co

551.3

13

12

Slaughter and May*

486.7

14

15

Gowling WLG

455.5

15

14

Pinsent Masons

451.0

16

16

Simmons & Simmons

354.1

17

17

Bird & Bird

337.0

18

19

Taylor Wessing

301.5

19

18

Berwin Leighton Paisner*

277.4

20

24

Addleshaw Goddard

242.0

21

20

Irwin Mitchell

241.8

22

21

Osborne Clarke

239.6

23

23

DWF*

235.0

24

22

DAC Beachcroft

230.0

25

29

Fieldfisher

207.0

26

27

Macfarlanes

201.6

27

32

Kennedys

196.0

28

25

Stephenson Harwood

189.4

29

28

HFW

179.1

30

26

Withers

176.6

31

30

Watson Farley & Williams

162.9

32

31

Mishcon de Reya

161.3

33

33

Charles Russell Speechlys

150.5

34

35

Travers Smith

146.9

35

36

Shoosmiths

128.5

36

39

RPC

112.7

37

44

Mills & Reeve

106.3

38

38

Bond Dickinson

105.0

39

37

BLM

104.7

40

42

Trowers & Hamlins

102.5

41

43

Weightmans

97.1

42

40

Hill Dickinson

96.8

43

46

Burges Salmon

90.0

44

48

Gateley

86.1

45

45

Ince & Co

83.4

46

49

TLT

82.0

47

51

Freeths

78.9

48

53

Penningtons Manches

76.1

49

54

Keoghs*

74.5

50

52

Shakespeare Martineau

73.9

51

50

Blake Morgan

73.3

52

55

Browne Jacobson

73.0

53

56

Brodies

68.6

54

57

Farrer & Co

63.5

55

47

Stewarts

62.4

56

58

Burness Paull

57.6

57

60

Shepherd & Wedderburn

53.5

58

59

Howard Kennedy

53.3

59

61

Fladgate

53.0

60

63

Lewis Silkin

52.9

61

62

Forsters

52.1

62

67

Birketts

48.1

63

65

Clarke Willmott

46.7

64

N/A

Minster Law*

46.0

65

69

Bristows

44.1

66

72

Bevan Brittan

44.0

67

68

Walker Morris

43.7

68

73

Foot Anstey

43.4

=69

66

Dickson Minto*

43.0

=69

71

Winckworth Sherwood

43.0

71

70

Ashfords

42.2

72

76

Kingsley Napley

40.0

73

75

Hugh James*

38.5

74

74

Capsticks

38.3

75

N/A

Leigh Day

38.2

76

79

Michelmores

37.6

77

83

Veale Wasbrough Vizards

36.8

78

77

Ward Hadaway

35.9

79

84

Royds Withy King

35.8

80

91

Harbottle & Lewis

35.5

81

80

Russell-Cooke

34.9

82

82

Knights

34.9

83

81

Wedlake Bell

34.0

84

78

Bircham Dyson Bell

33.7

85

96

JMW

32.5

86

86

Cripps

31.7

87

94

Keystone Law

31.6

88

87

Brabners

31.4

89

95

MW Solicitors

31.3

=90

89

Harrison Clark Rickerbys

30.0

=90

88

Simpson Millar*

30.0

92

85

Thrings

29.5

93

90

Digby Brown*

29.0

94

102

Gordon Dadds

28.5

95

96

DMH Stallard

28.4

96

105

Thorntons

27.5

97

92

Sackers

27.0

98

98

Stevens & Bolton

26.9

99

119

Fletchers

26.8

100

99

Moore Blatch

26.8

101 93 Harper Macleod  26.5
102 103 Boodle Hatfield  26.1
103 109 Wiggin  26.0
104 100 Bates Wells Braithwaite  25.8
105 N/A Joseph Hage Aaronson*  25.2
106 106 Wilkin Chapman  24.9
107 101 Geldards  24.8
108 104 Edwin Coe  24.3
109 107 Payne Hicks Beach  23.4
110 110 Anderson Strathern  22.7
111 107 Turcan Connell*  22.5
112 115 Fox Williams  22.0
113 111 Lester Aldridge  21.8
114 113 Morton Fraser  21.8
115 112 Thomson Snell & Passmore  21.0
116 118 Wright Hassall  20.6
117 114 Langleys  20.4
118 123 Howes Percival  20.1
119 116 Stephensons  19.9
120 117 Stephens Scown  19.7
121 128 Anthony Collins  19.5
122 120 Memery Crystal  19.2
123 122 Ashtons Legal  19.1
124 136 Hodge Jones & Allen  19.0
125 121 Pitmans  18.8
126 126 Collyer Bristow  18.3
127 125 Hewitsons  18.3
128 135 Stone King  17.9
129 124 MacRoberts  17.8
130 126 RadcliffesLeBrasseur*  17.5
131 129 Trethowans  17.5
132 133 IBB Solicitors  17.5
133 139 Taylor Vinters  17.3
134 131 TWM  17.2
135 130 Higgs & Sons  17.2
136 137 Lupton Fawcett  16.6
137 140 Lindsays  16.3
138 157 Shulmans  16.3
139 141 Tees Law  16.3
140 150 Express Solicitors  16.2
141 132 Birchall Blackburn Law  16.0
142 138 Gordons  16.0
143 134 Nelsons  15.9
144 144 Rosenblatt  15.8
145 168 Peters & Peters  15.7
146 147 Paris Smith  15.5
147 160 Cavendish Legal Group  15.0
147 N/A Laytons*  15.0
147 145 Teacher Stern  15.0
150 153 Winn Solicitors  14.9
151 143 Fenwick Elliott  14.5
152 175 Clarion  14.5
153 158 Bott & Co  14.4
154 142 Anthony Gold Solicitors  14.4
155 145 Roythornes  14.3
156 164 Wilsons  14.3
157 152 Boyes Turner  14.3
158 193 Vardags  14.2
159 154 EMW  14.1
160 149 Kemp Little  14.1
161 186 Coffin Mew  14.0
162 163 DAS Law  14.0
163 154 Sintons  13.8
164 148 Goodman Derrick  13.7
165 156 Napthens  13.5
166 169 Brachers  13.5
166 173 Seddons  13.5
168 171 Kuits  13.2
169 160 Barlow Robbins  13.1
169 184 Flint Bishop  13.1
169 177 Wallace  13.1
172 164 Hamlins  13.0
173 151 Keebles  12.9
174 180 Ellisons  12.9
175 170 FBC Manby Bowdler  12.8
176 171 Ramsdens  12.8
177 162 Taylor & Emmet  12.6
178 166 Brethertons*  12.5
179 167 ASB law  12.3
180 178 Gillespie Macandrew  12.0
180 N/A Hudgell Solicitors*  12.0
182 174 Wrigleys Solicitors  11.9
183 N/A Chadwick Lawrence  11.8
184 159 Lee & Thompson  11.6
185 175 Hunters  11.6
186 184 Mayo Wynne Baxter  11.6
187 179 Pemberton Greenish  11.6
188 188 Porter Dodson  11.1
189 195 Schofield Sweeney  11.1
190 187 Muckle  11.0
191 183 Lanyon Bowdler  10.7
191 190 Simkins  10.7
193 182 Ledingham Chalmers  10.6
194 189 Morrisons Solicitors  10.5
195 191 Mundays  10.5
196 192 Drydensfairfax Solicitors*  10.0
196 181 Roberts Jackson*  10.0
196 N/A Stowe Family Law*  10.0
199 194 BPE Solicitors  9.8
200 N/A Druces  9.8

This article was updated on October 15 2018 to reflect the new rankings in The Lawyer UK 200 Law Firms 2018.

* Estimated

UK top 100 crack £24bn in record year for revenue

In-depth insight into the top 50 law firms in the UK

The Lawyer UK 200 front cover for top law firms uk ranking articleFor more information about the content of The Lawyer UK 200 ranking please contact Matt Byrne on 0207 970 4558 or matt.byrne@centaurmedia.com. To purchase any of the UK 200 series please contact the team at market.reports@thelawyer.com or call 020 7970 4275.