Staff at Walker Morris are set for a bumper bonus after the law firm revealed record results.<\/p>\n
The Leeds-based firm, which employs more than 500, has increased its bonus pot by more than one third as it reported a 14% hike in revenue to \u00a384.2m. Net profits for the year to 30 April 2025 came in at \u00a337.5m, an increase of 11%. Profit per equity partner (PEP) grew by 18%.<\/p>\n
Revealing her first set of results since taking over as managing partner last May, Jeanette Burgess praised the hard work, tenacity and commitment of everyone at Walker Morris who will receive an average 14% of their salary.<\/p>\n
Burgess said: \u201cWe think it is important to recognise the contribution that our staff make to the success of the firm, and that\u2019s why the bonus round has increased, and it is the most generous ever, with our top performers commanding up to 35% of salary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Investment in staff is one of the three pillars set out in the firm\u2019s Ambition<\/em> 27 strategy which aims to hit revenue of \u00a3100m in the next two years. The last 12 months has seen 20 internal promotions and several partner hires. The firm is also proud of its staff retention rate and the fact that more than half of its fee earners are female.<\/p>\n Despite being a single site in Leeds, a significant highlight is the firm\u2019s international work, which now accounts for a quarter of its revenue. Unlike many of its contemporaries, the firm has resisted opening offices in the UK and abroad, a strategy which, says Burgess, will continue in the future.<\/p>\n Burgess, who joined the firm in 2006 as a regulatory lawyer and spent a decade on the board, said: \u201cWhile we have been lucky over the years, we\u2019ve very worked to drive international business. The firm now has a wide range of complex and high-profile work from many international clients across North America, Europe and the Middle East.<\/p>\n “They don\u2019t see our location in Leeds as an impediment to top quality service delivery, and because we\u2019ve demonstrated that we can deliver, we\u2019ve managed to grow that part of the practice very successfully.\u201d<\/p>\n The firm\u2019s sector portfolio continued to grow with revenue in private equity up 34%, food and drink 38% and living 18%, while all service lines including corporate, commercial, construction and engineering, litigation, and planning and environment produced double digit growth. The performance, Burgess says, is a result of the firm\u2019s investment in clients and markets to diversify and grow its client base.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, the firm has invested heavily in innovation with the recruitment of a chief information officer and innovation lead.<\/p>\n \u201cThis investment is critical. \u2026 we\u2019ve got a firmwide network of innovation champions who are out in the business, looking for opportunities. They are trying new tools and new AI opportunities and deciding what comes back to the investment committee to be adopted.\u201d<\/p>\n Burgess added: \u201cDelivering double-digit revenue and profit growth in an unpredictable climate is very pleasing and the result of us bringing even greater value to our client relationships.<\/p>\n “It is terrific to see that focus and hard work paying off with some key new client wins, broader relationships and a greater variety of more complex work. \u201cWe ended the year with all our core service-lines and market groups maintaining the upward growth trajectory seen in prior years. That level of performance has continued into Q1 this year and we are actively looking to add to our bench-strength, particularly at partner level, to meet the demand. These are all positive trends and provide us with real encouragement for the remainder of this year and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Walker Morris, which employs more than 500 people, has increased its bonus pot by more than one third<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":271992,"featured_media":2142055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120902],"coauthors":[137100],"class_list":["post-2142040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal","tag-top-story","tag-yorkshire"],"yoast_head":"\n