Revenues at Bristol law firm hit £380m last year

Bristol law firm Osborne Clarke has announced revenues of £380m for the last financial year.

This is a nine per cent increase on 2021/22 which was £350m.

Osborne Clarke’s UK income increased by nine per cent to £217.3m, from £199.1m in 2021/22. The firm says it has maintained its financial stability with £25.7m in cash resources.

Omar Al-Nuaimi, Osborne Clarke’s international chief executive said: “Our teams have pulled together once again this year in an often turbulent market to deliver great results for our international clients and business.

“We  re on track to hit €500m turnover by 2025, while delivering on a number of key investment programmes to help us reach our target.

“Our 3D strategy, centred on outstanding legal expertise, sector understanding and transformation insight on the key trends shaping business, is working well with our clients who appreciate the layered support we provide on issues they’re facing now and likely to be facing in the future.

“ESG continues to be essential to our business and it’s embedded in our client plan. To support this focus, we’re expanding and strengthening the legal expertise we offer clients across our international sector and service lines. I’m particularly proud of the progress we’ve made with our newest office in Poland, which has nearly doubled its headcount since launching just over a year ago.

“Our own digital transformation remains an ongoing priority and we’re investing in talent and technologies to strengthen our international service offering and client experience.”

Conrad Davies, Osborne Clarke’s UK managing partner who is based in the firm’s Bristol office, said: “We’ve had another set of strong results in what has been a challenging economic market, which is a credit to the outstanding efforts and dedication of our teams across the UK.

“Even though it’s been a tougher trading environment, we’ve made a number of targeted investments to grow our headcount, increase the reward we pay our people and accelerate the roll out of various key change programmes across our legal operations. These investments will help us to attract and retain talent, strengthen our client offering and future-proof the performance of our business.”

Lara Burch, partner and head of Osborne Clarke’s Bristol office, said: “It’s great to see another strong set of results after what has been a challenging year in the market. Despite these conditions, the firm has made a number of significant investments in its people and wider business, ensuring that we continue to grow and deliver outstanding work for our clients.

“In Bristol, a key highlight was our move to new offices at Halo, demonstrating our ongoing commitment to the South West market.  Halo embodies a number of our key priorities as a firm, with its strong sustainability credentials and clear focus on employee wellbeing.  We are delighted with our new home in Bristol – it marks another step towards our sustainability and carbon reduction targets, which we are constantly working to achieve through our Osborne Clarke for Good framework.

The firm’s UK sector teams performed well with double-digit growth across five of its seven key sectors including energy and utilities; retail and consumer; financial services; life sciences; and mobility and infrastructure, while the technology, media and comms; and the built environment sectors were broadly flat against strong 2021/22 results.

All of the firm’s practice groups grew over the last 12 months with disputes and risk seeing an increase of 24 per cent, advisory grew by 14 per cent, while the firm’s business transactions group, and projects, real estate and finance group both saw three per cent growth.

“Clients are front and centre in everything we do and we are recruiting and promoting key talent to drive forward our 2025 strategy. I’m proud that we are again giving all our UK colleagues a four per cent profit share, because when the firm does well so do all of our people,” said Conrad.

The firm increased its investment in recruitment across key international sectors and services over the past 12 months announcing multiple partner-level hires.

In the UK, these included life sciences patent litigation Partner Trevor Crosse and medical technology regulation expert Peter Rudd-Clarke; data protection expert Jonathan McDonald; technology disputes specialist Philip Tansley and corporate energy Partner Matt Lewy. A team of five pensions experts including Partners Chris Netiatis and David Hosford as well as pensions Partner Carol Dick also joined; along with private wealth specialist Patrick Wooddisse;  corporate Partner Louise Grzasko; head of corporate structuring and simplifications Tom Lewis; contentious financial services regulation Partner Benedicte Perowne; and incentives specialist Anika Chandra.

“We know our people are happier, and perform better, when they respect the values of where they work. They tell us that our friendly, supportive and kind culture sets us apart. We’re never complacent in our efforts to meet the individual needs of our people and ensure they feel a strong sense of belonging. We make clear commitments so they know what they can expect to contribute to the firm and our clients, and what they will get from us in return,” added Conrad.

The firm has a number of key programmes to support its commitments in creating a good working experience for all its people.

Reward and recognition are also key aspects of the firm’s commitments to its people. The firm is transparent about base pay, offers performance bonuses up to 20 per cent, pension contributions and, depending on firm performance, a profit share based on annual salaries. This year it is increasing long service awards, which range from £2k for a ten-year anniversary to £10k after 50 years’ service. The firm is also introducing a discretionary long term incentive plans with bonuses up to 40 per cent paid over a period of three years.

The firm also completed the move to its new Bristol office, Halo, which is designed to be one of the most sustainable office buildings in the UK. The building features solar PV, rainwater harvesting, state of the art plant and controls, and is connected to the city’s district heat network for low carbon heating.