According to NatWest's latest Legal Benchmarking Report, law firms working in the SME space may face significant 'performance challenges' in the coming year after a rosy 2015. The survey, which is now in its fourth year, collected data from 390 UK law firms with annual turnover below £46m and found 'healthy improvement in both revenue and profit levels' during 2015, including inflation-busting fee growth of 6 per cent. Confidence also remains mostly high across the sector, with 44 per cent of survey respondents saying that they expected fees to grow by 10 per cent in the coming year.
However, NatWest head of professional services Steve Arundale warns that mid-tier firms may struggle to match the strong 2015 results in the coming year as performance indicators, though still climbing, are improving more slowly than in previous years.
'Early indications suggest that 2016 could carry some performance challenges for many firms. Business levels witnessed in 2015 could be described as the new, post-recession norm; and many firms appear to be struggling to deliver growth levels achieved in the previous two years,' he said.
Source: Legal Business
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