MHA’s Legal Benchmarking Report reveals how the changing legal landscape and a fall in fee income has had a positive impact on many practices, prompting them to scrutinise their profitability drivers and reduce expenditure, resulting in improved profit per equity partner figures.

Key findings

• Growth in start-ups and niche ‘boutique’ practices
• Fee income trends a mixed bag – only two categories achieve a significant rise
• All practice sizes – except one – report a marked improvement in Profit per Equity Partner (PEP)
• Significant decrease in partner and practice funding
• Lock up levels remain static, although smaller partner firms struggle to gain control
• Firms under pressure to be more agile, increase investment in IT and offer flexible working patterns