Eurozone woes to hamper growth in law firms’ fees

Growth in fees earned by Britain’s law firms will likely slow in the 12 months ending next month due to the sluggish economies in the eurozone and beyond, a UK lobby group said yester- day.
By The Newsroom
Published 19th Mar 2013, 00:01 BST

TheCityUK, which promotes Britain as a place to do business, said that the market for legal services was showing some tentative signs of recovery, with gross fees earned by law firms in the UK rising five per cent in the financial year ending April 2012.

But growth is set to slow to below four per cent in the financial year that ends next month, TheCityUK said in a report.

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“Once inflation is taken into account, many law firms will only see marginal real growth,” the report said, adding that global economic uncertainty will hamper stronger growth in the coming year.

Britain accounts for around seven per cent of the global market for legal services and is Europe’s largest, making up a fifth of the region’s fee income, it said.

Legal services contributed £20.9bn or 1.6 per cent of UK economic activity in 2011, employing 340,000 peo- ple.

The report said Linklaters was the top earner from UK business at £514m, followed by Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Slaughter and May, and Freshfields.

Over half of the revenue of the largest 100 law firms in the UK is generated by international law firms based in London.

Related topics:LondonEurope