Press Room

London – September 13, 2022 — ALM has released the 2022 UK Top 50, Law.com International’s annual ranking of the U.K.’s largest commercial law firms by revenue for the 2021-2022 fiscal year, including a breakdown of profit per equity partner (PEP), partner headcounts, leverage, and other financial metrics. 

The 2022 UK 50 data, detailing the country’s Top 50 firms, and several articles analyzing the results are available now on Law.com International.  

Key takeaways from this year’s results include:

• The UK Top 50 increased their revenue 10.9% on average in the last financial year, equating to combined turnover of £20.3 billion.
  
• The top six firms account for nearly half of the UK Top 50’s combined total gross revenue.
• 38% of firms achieved double-digit growth in gross revenue. This compares to 22% of firms in 2020-2021.
• Average profit per equity partner stood at £939,600, up 7.7%, while average revenue per lawyer climbed 2.8% to £406,100.

“The U.K.’s largest law firms performed very well on the back of strong transactional activity in the last financial year, especially prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine”, said Paul Hodkinson, Editor-In-Chief, Law.com International. “The growth still does not match their U.S. counterparts and many may find it difficult to replicate their performance in the coming year as the economy starts to worsen. Even so, to perform so well even amid a pay war for junior talent in the industry was quite a feat.”

This year Law.com International implemented a new qualification for the UK Top 50, which has an impact on the ranking. In order to qualify for the ranking a firm must have more lawyers in the U.K. than in any other single country. This was done to more accurately reflect what constitutes a U.K. law firm in an age of increasing internationalization. 

“Buoyed by robust lawyer financial productivity, the U.K.’s largest law firms were able to deliver another resilient set of results in 2021-22”, said James Willer, Director, ALM Legal Intelligence. “However, the outlook for the current fiscal year appears more uncertain with a slowdown in transactional demand, higher costs, economic pressures, and geopolitical uncertainty all presenting headwinds for U.K. firms to navigate.”

Learn more about ALM’s rebranding initiative announced at Legalweek 2022.

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