As law firms across U.K. post their financial statements for 2022-23, two entwined trends are emerging. Revenues are, by and large, continuing to rise. But profits and average profits per equity partner are either flattening or falling.
It’s an unusual phenomenon that subverts the usual concurrence of twin rises or twin falls that we’re used to seeing. Allen & Overy, Taylor Wessing and Osborne Clarke have all reported a rise in revenue but a fall in profits and PEP, while Ashurst, Simmons & Simmons and the non-U.S. arm of Eversheds Sutherland all had flat or very slight rises in PEP despite strong revenue rises.
