An active summer season has boosted business confidence to its highest levels since the dotcom crash, with UK lawyers predicting record increases in firm fee income during the next 12 months.

The latest quarterly Legal Week/ EJ Legal Big Question business confidence survey found that 95% of the panel of more than 100 leading business lawyers expect an increase in overall fee income in the coming year, with an equally buoyant 61% anticipating a rise of 10% or more.