Simmons & Simmons buoyed by 30% PEP spike as it nears £1m

Simmons & Simmons has reported a strong set of financial results with revenue up 12% to £437m against a 30% rise in profit per equity partner (PEP) to £980,000.

The performance, which also saw total profit increase by 35% to £171m, is a marked improvement on last year, when revenue and PEP rose by 4% and 7% respectively.

It makes Simmons the latest of a string of UK firms to experience a profitability spike, reflecting the efficiencies imposed by lockdown restrictions on office work, client entertainment and business travel.

Simmons’ 30% PEP jump comes in ahead of Herbert Smith Freehills’ 28% and FieldFisher’s 22% PEP increases, according to GLP’s UK law firm financial results tracker.

Managing partner Jeremy Hoyland welcomed the “substantial growth” achieved during a period that presented “unprecedented challenges and uncertainty”.

He said Simmons’ versatile business had proved its resilience and pointed to the development of new product lines and services, as well as an increase in the number of client mandates.

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The firm’s flexible resourcing platform, Adaptive, was singled out, having achieved revenue growth of 30%.

Hoyland underlined the firm’s efforts to mitigate remote working’s potential impact on mental health, which included the launch of a wellbeing hub last year. “As we push ahead, adapt our working styles and move to a hybrid working model,” he said, “we will continue to develop new ways of working with each other and our clients."

Simmons’ flexible working policy allows most staff to spend two to three days working remotely

The firm added 23 lateral hires during the period, while in July last year it announced its largest partner promotions round in recent years. Of the 13 partners promoted, six were women (46%), exceeding its target for 40% of its promoted partners annually to be women.

Departures, meanwhile, included Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan’s hiring of UK head of dispute resolution, Paul Baker.