Legal benchmarking and profitability advice

Our benchmarking service aims to optimise your profitability. We analyse your firm, identify its strengths and weaknesses, and show where performance can be improved.

We have compiled and written the Law Society’s Leadership and Management Section Financial Benchmarking Survey since 2009. The survey is widely regarded as one of the leading annual health check reports for mid-sized practices. It provides financial comparisons, against which firms may measure their own performance - an invaluable way for them to identify where they might improve and ultimately generate more profit.

View the full 2023 survey

In addition, our clients receive their own tailor-made benchmarking report, which compares the firm's own results to five other practices of a similar size and work type, providing information on financial performance. We discuss the data with you, consider the implications and help you to prepare an action plan.

Profitability advice

The primary objective of every practice is to improve their profitability.

Our knowledge and experience of the legal sector means we can help you set realistic targets and introduce robust internal controls, by analysing key metrics such as:

Profit per partner
Cost of employing a fee earner
Fee earner gearing
Return on capital employed
Fee earner breakeven point

Managing working capital

The availability of cash is vital to support the growth and profitability of any business. Law firms in particular have large expenditure on people, resources and insurances, and often lengthy timescales for cases to settle and fees to be collected.

Anticipating the pinch points in cash flow and keeping lock up to a minimum is essential. The cost of funding capital will have a significant impact on the overall profitability of the practice. We will work with you to ensure that funding is obtained in the most economical way and strategies are put in place to keep borrowing as low as possible without restricting your business development.