England: Fee income and profits up at medium and small firms

Data from the Law Society Law Management Section’s 2018 Financial Benchmarking Surveyshow that total fee incomes has increased for the eighth year in a row, with a median increase of 5.3 per cent.

Median fee income per equity partner increased by 8.6 per cent to £684,000, mainly as a consequence of a rise in fees per fee-earner.

Median profit per equity partner meanwhile jumped 6.9 per cent to £162,161.

Paul McCluskey, head of professional practices at survey sponsor Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, welcomed the news but warned that too many practices saw partner drawings exceed profits, with 15 per cent reporting this as happening for the second year running.

He said: “I encourage managing partners to take a hard stance against this culture.”