Taylor Wessing has embarked on a review of its strategy after unveiling double-digit growth in its UK revenues and partner profits.
Turnover for the firm's UK arm rose from £79.1m last year to £91m in the 12 months to April, a rise of 14%. Profits per equity partner (PEP) increased by 13% from £517,000 to £582,000.
The results were slightly ahead of budget and helped the Anglo-German outfit exceed targets that it set itself in the four-year strategy implemented in 2004. The firm had aimed to hit a PEP figure of £550,000 by 2008 but is now in the process of revising those targets for the next three to five years.
Commenting on the move, Taylor Wessing managing partner Michael Frawley told Legal Week: “We are reviewing our strategy and the milestones we set ourselves going forward. We have to be realistic about [our goals and] the costs we face.”
The firm is now in the process of deciding on a bonus for its staff.
Taylor Wessing has also over the last 12 months raised its leverage, which now stands at 5.5 fee earners per equity partner against a ratio of 4.9:1 last year. Frawley said the move would allow the firm to introduce support for its equity partners by recruiting more junior lawyers.
The firm said that the rise in profits had been offset by one-off costs related to Taylor Wessing’s upcoming move to new London headquarters in New Fetter Lane, set for 2009.
Over the coming year the firm will test a new practice management system, which it hopes will pave the way for closer integration between its UK and Germany partnerships, which still operate as separate profit centres.
The performance places Taylor Wessing on a par with its peer group, with many of the City’s mid-tier firms this year also unveiling substantial growth on the back of busy commercial markets. More than half of the UK top 50 have so far announced their results, with the average turnover rise currently standing at 15% and the average PEP increase at 13%.
Meanwhile, Irwin Mitchell has announced that PEP at the national firm has dropped by 5% from £525,000 to £500,000. The disappointing result comes against a 13% rise in turnover to £127m. The firm joins Herbert Smith and Clyde & Co among the few UK firms not to improve its profitability this year.
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