Law firms optimistic about fee income growth over coming year

The results of the Law Society Managing Partner Survey, published in the latest edition of the Law Society Gazette, paint an optimistic picture for the Irish legal sector.

More than 300 firms responded to the survey, which was issued to all managing partners in November 2015 and run in conjunction with Outsource.

Two-thirds said they saw an increase in fee income over the past year while 17 per cent indicated no change and 16 per cent saw a decrease.

Over the next twelve months, 33 per cent of practices expect an increase in excess of 10 per cent, 36 per cent expect an increase of up to 10 per cent, and 25 per cent expect no change.

Only 5 per cent expect a decrease of up to 10 per cent and only 1 per cent expect an even greater decrease.

David Rowe and Donal Maher of Outsource, which provides practice management and financial advice to Irish law firms, gave an analysis of the results.

They wrote in the Gazette: “Irish law firms are seeing the benefits of an improved economy. A GDP growth rate of 7 per cent in 2015 and similar performance in 2016 translates into improved consumer sentiment, SME growth, and transactional activity, which all positively affect demand for legal services.”