Law firm’s double-digit growth puts it in Top 100 for first time
Manchester-based law firm JMW Solicitors has enjoyed yet another year of double-digit growth, placing it as one of the Top 100 UK law firms by revenue for the first time.
Income increased 11% to a record £25m in 2016/17 – a year that saw significant investment with an extra 60 staff being taken on in new roles across all departments, mainly at fee earner level.
In the last five years fee income has grown from £13.2m in 2012 to £25m – a rise of 89%.
The firm’s Business Crime & Regulation team led the way with an increase of 50%, closely followed by the Commercial Litigation team with a 47% increase. Fees also substantially grew in Employment (35%), Private Client (25%), Corporate Recovery & Insolvency (21%) and Commercial Property (15%).
Meanwhile, provisional profit figures for the year show a 7% increase to £4.6m
According to the firm, 73% of the work it has taken on in the past year came from new clients including Sale Sharks, Silverlane Developments, Tattu, London Sport Exchange and South African Premier Soccer League.
The firm’s focus on digital marketing has again led to growth from website instructions, with website revenue up by 26% to £1.9m. Fees from the solicitors’ referral network Lawshare, which comprises some 320 firms, also increased by 30% to £1.3m.
Staff numbers increased from 320 to 380, including seven new partners: Graham Small (Commercial Litigation); Cara Nuttall and Michael Chapman (Family); Ian Lewis (Business Crime & Regulation); Damien Brown (Corporate) and Nadia Kerr and Paul Breen (Personal Injury).
Joy Kingsley, JMW senior partner, said: “Our strategy has been to attract partners and teams with a client following to work with our outstanding lawyers and other new recruits, rather than pursuing mergers and acquisitions.
“We are grateful to both existing and new clients and our concentration on the development of our business and that of our clients, continues to pay dividends. We are dedicated to becoming a law firm of choice in Manchester for both clients and lawyers across all of our legal areas.”
