Chamber reports record £41m turnover
Leeds-based Exchange Chambers is poised for further growth after announcing record turnover of £41m.
Buoyed by the arrival of 38 new members since the beginning of 2020, the turnover figure represents a rise of 32% on Exchange’s 2020/21 turnover of £31m.
Exchange’s pre pandemic turnover in 2019/20 was £33m.
“The strong performance of the business is a credit to our outstanding barristers, clerks and staff,” said Jonathan I’Anson, chief executive at Exchange Chambers. “It has been an exceptional effort, particularly in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. We are seeing high quality instructions across all practice areas.”
Exchange has also announced that average member earnings have increased significantly over the last two years from pre pandemic levels across all practice areas, while members’ contributions remained low at an average of 12% of individual earnings.
“Our expansion strategy is based on attracting the highest quality work and the highest quality barristers,” l’Anson said. “This is fuelling our growth and attracting applications from barristers from all over the country.”
I’Anson took over as Exchange Chambers’ chief executive as the pandemic first took hold in 2020.
Talking about Exchange’s strategy during the pandemic, he said: “Having previously worked as a partner in a large corporate law firm, I distinctly remember how certain businesses reacted to the challenges of the 2008 financial crash and learned some significant lessons.
“As abBoard, we applied those lessons to our Covid recovery plan.
“From the very beginning of the virus we were determined not to pull the shutters down. We stayed on the front foot in terms of plans for growth, investment in the business, marketing, business development and recruitment.”
He added: “We have focussed on recruitment, bringing in a 15strong family law team from Chavasse Chambers and a number of silks from other Chambers, including Simon Gorton QC and Anesta Weekes QC.
“Indeed, we have taken on 38 new tenants since the onset of the virus two years ago. We also continued with our plans to take six pupils a year, in fact we took on extra pupils. We renegotiated and signed new ten-year leases in both Leeds and Manchester while continuing to invest in all areas of the business, particularly technology. We maintained our marketing push and our training initiatives for solicitors were also scaled up with over 11,000 delegates booking on to our webinars and seminars over the last 12 months. All of that has meant that we have emerged from the last two years in an extremely strong position.”
Exchange Chambers has 200 members, including 24 silks. The Set is based in Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool.
