Fee income leaps 13% to £15m at JMW

ENTREPRENEURIAL law firm JMW Solicitors has reported record annual fee income of £15m, an uplift of 13%, and said it is in “great shape” to meet the challenge posed by major changes in the sector.

The Manchester firm said profits, which it did not disclose, had increased 25% in the year to the end of April. Staff numbers increased to around 210 from 200 last year.

JMW said it had seen strong growth in its family and private client departments, while personal injury and clinical negligence – its two biggest practice areas – had reported record results.

Both departments though are adapting to the challenges posed by the Jackson reforms which were introduced last month and have radically changed the way in which civil litigation is funded.

A central part of the reforms is the removal of legal firms’ ability to claim a success fee in cases taken under conditional fee agreements. Experts believe this will lead to a significant reduction in litigation, especially in areas such as personal injury.

Senior partner Joy Kingsley said the firm’s growth was particularly pleasing given the challenging economic backdrop over the last five years.

From 2008 to 2013 fee income has almost doubled from £8m to £15m. In the last two years the firm has added £4m to fee income, an increase of 34%.

She said the firm is keen adopter of technology as a tool to recruit new clients. JMW saw a 97% surge in website instructions and a 148% increase in fees generate. Referrals by solicitors to the referral network Lawshare increased by 121%.

“Our success in services offered online to both business and private clients has been even greater than expected we also have over 100 North West law firms providing legal work to us.

“We continue to adapt to the changing legal landscape and have many different projects which we hope will enable us to perform considerably better than the market over the forthcoming year.”

Founder and managing partner Bill Jones added: “We are pleased by the continued growth of our newer family, private client and commercial departments which we have promoted to counteract the effects of the Jackson reforms on our traditional work sources.

“Nevertheless we are proud of the excellent performance of our outstanding personal injury and clinical negligence departments but regret that Government intervention will affect all firms in these fields. Nevertheless we consider the firm to be in great shape going forward.”