Data suggests that the UK legal sector has been less hit by Brexit than initially feared
The average pay of partners in UK law firms has exceeded £200,000 for the first time, a chartered accountancy firm has found.
On average, partners in the jurisdiction were paid £201,000 last year, up 7% from £187,000 in the previous year, Hazlewoods said. The new average is also an increase of 35% from £149,000 five years ago, the lowest average recorded since the global crisis in 2008.
In 2008/09, average partner pay was £172,000, but that declined to £160,000 in 2009/10 and £150,000 in 2010/11.
The data suggests that the legal sector in the UK has been less hit by Brexit than initially feared, as there has been steady growth since 2011/12, even in the years since the referendum.
The steady rise is partly attributed to fewer partner roles created by firms, Hazlewoods said. In a recent separate study, however, Hazlewoods said that UK partner numbers have rebounded despite Brexit.
“UK law firms learned a lot of lessons from the last recession. They run much tighter ships and are more efficient at converting hours worked into bills which are paid,” said Andy Harris, Hazlewoods partner. “Expensive new office overheads are taken on with more care and diversification efforts that fail aren’t allowed to run at a loss for too long. That efficiency drive within the UK legal sector is making a real difference to partners’ incomes.”
