Historic law firm sees record growth in profit

A Devon law firm is celebrating record growth with turnover, profit and headcount all at their highest levels in the firm’s 200-year history.

GA Solicitors which is headquartered in Plymouth with a second office in Bath, has seen both turnover and profit increase by a significant margin in the last 12 months.

The partners have decided to invest a substantial amount of profits back into its staff, facilities and technology, to ensure continuity of service levels, the provision of niche legal advice and to future-proof the business for further growth.

As part of the investment a full IT overhaul is planned for 2024. This will see the replacement of all existing laptops across the firm, the introduction of modern hands-free headsets, and new software and programming across the board, including new cutting-edge cybercrime and ransomware software.

Importantly for staff, the partners chose this year to provide a significant pay increase to every single employee to help alleviate the pressures of the current cost-of-living crisis.

Every staff member saw a substantial pay rise, a move which increased salary overheads for the growing law firm by hundreds of thousands of pounds.

In addition to its IT and staff, the firm is also planning to upgrade its heating and boiler systems to ensure it operates in a more energy-efficient manner. This decision follows an 18-month programme of tackling the firm’s environmental impact and looking to reduce its carbon footprint.

In the last few months, GA Solicitors has recruited nine people, bringing staff numbers up to 93 – its highest-ever total. Still pushing for growth, the firm remains actively recruiting for a further seven vacancies as it continues to develop its services and build upon niche sector specialisms.

All areas of the firm have seen positive growth year on year with new recruits being taken on in residential conveyancing, dispute resolution, family, commercial property and personal injury.

Three new trainee solicitors have also been employed as part of the firm’s commitment to develop the next generation of solicitors and home-grow its own legal talent. The trainees (Emma Mumford, Laura Keith and Joe Fear) now each support the residential, commercial property and dispute resolution departments.

Many of the firm’s staff have come through its links and strong relationship with the University of Plymouth, with 13 members of staff being alumni of the popular university.

David Wallis, managing partner, said: “There is no doubting that the legal sector remains very competitive and, with regulations tightening and costs rising, firms must work hard to remain profitable, efficient, compliant and also effective.

“At GA Solicitors we of course face all of these challenges, we are however very lucky to have a strong team of staff – both legal and administrative. Each person plays a key role in the organisation and ensures we offer not only top-level legal advice but also an incredibly high level of client service. It is this which has been instrumental in our success and has seen us secure rankings in The Legal 500, Chambers & Partners UK and Chambers & Partners High Net Worth.

“We have also just been shortlisted for four national awards for client care, best workplace, best residential conveyancing team of the year and conveyancer of the year in the Modern Law Conveyancing Awards and are thrilled to have this additional recognition for our hard work and dedication to our clients.”