The Top 50 from the other side of the fence

Given the increasing transparency in law firms’ financial performance, there has already been a fair amount of commentary regarding this year’s results as Legal Week delivers its annual breakdown of the results of the UK’s 50 largest firms.

Obviously, much of that commentary comes from journalists, which is one reason why we thought it would be worth balancing that out by making an effort to capture a wider range of reactions from senior lawyers to this year’s results and the broader trends that have shaped them.

To that end we have expanded the Views from the Market section on legalweek.com, providing in-depth comments from a wide range of leading partners and clients.

Some general themes emerge, with David Childs and Tony Angel making candid comments about the sacrifices that have been made to get their respective businesses into the state in which they could put in such a confident international performance.

Despite David Gold’s (pretty accurate) assertion that there’s a strong herd mentality at City law firms, the general tone of the comments are thoughtful rather than triumphant.

Many acknowledge that external factors such as the continued rise of the City of London, busy deal markets and the strong pound have done as much to drive the UK’s top firms as their own strategy and work ethic.

Perhaps surprisingly in what has been a very successful year, a number of partners - including Ralph Cohen, Dick Tyler and Chris Carroll - sound warnings over the extent to which City firms can keep pushing their current model on a platform of stretched leverage and long hours.

It will be interesting to see whether this more reflective mood will lead law firms to rethink some of the strategy that has carried them so far.

alex.novarese@legalweek.com