According to the filings, the emerging NewLaw business saw an 18 per cent increase in revenue from £12.3m to £14.6m over the 2015/16 financial year. However, the company’s operating profit tumbled during the same period from £987,000 to £200,000 over the same period, the filing citing expenses connected to ‘one-off exceptional items’ – potentially among them, a £255,000 spend on new technology that includes LOD’s own online legal services marketplace, Spoke.

LOD chief executive Tom Hartley commented: ‘We're very happy with the profitability, the final profit number was almost entirely determined by the merger with AdventBalance.’ The combination between LOD and AdventBalance came about as the result of a £6m investment from Berwin Leighton Paisner in the Australian legal resourcing business. BLP now holds a 62 per cent stake in the holding company, LOD Global, that houses the businesses.

Sources: Legal Business; The Lawyer