Staff at Liverpool law firm Weightmans are to share a £1.5m bonus pot after revenues topped £100m and profits soared 25%. Tony McDonough reports
Liverpool law firm Weightmans will pay out £1.5m in bonuses to its 1,200 staff after annual revenues hit £103.2m – a 5% rise on last year.
Based in Old Hall Street in Liverpool city centre, Weightmans is a top 45 UK law firm. It also has offices in Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds, Birmingham, Glasgow, Cardiff, Leicester and London.
In January it announced it was in merger negotiations with London law firm RadcliffesLeBrasseur. The merger was finalised earlier in June and the firms have combined under the Weightmans LLP name.
Net profit for the 2021/22 financial year was up 25% to £11.3. Weightmans said its net cash position remains positive. This is despite a number of investments made during the year. These included the acquisition of new technology tools such as Matterlabs.
As a thank you to its staff Weightmans has set aside £1.5m for bonus payments. If this was shared equally between its 1,200 employees each would receive £1,250.
It has been a year of “significant organic growth” in both the litigation, transactions and advisory division and claims division. Within those divisions, corporate and commercial, property, casualty, healthcare, and litigation all recorded seven-figure growth.
A number of the firm’s key markets grew . These included 31% in built environment, 16% in public bodies, 9% in services to owner-managed business and 7% in services to individuals.
Weightmans welcomed 12 new partners during the 12-month period. They came from departments including family, employment and healthcare. And the finance team hailed its first partner promotion in what was a record number ever promoted in one round.
It appointed a dedicated ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) manager in February. And technology continued to be a key focus as director of business services Stuart Whittle was promoted to chief innovation and technology officer. Innovation manager Catriona Wolfenden became product and innovation director.
Weightmans managing partner, John Schorah, said: “It has been a strong year for Weightmans, not just in terms of financial success but in the positive progress we have made towards our goals of being the most responsible business and best employer possible.
“The figures show that we have been able to recover from the impact of the pandemic, thanks to the hard work of our people and the support of our clients to whom we are incredibly grateful.
“The merger with RadcliffesLeBrasseur will contribute significantly to the depth and breadth of services we offer to clients across the UK. We are excited by what we can achieve together in the coming months.
“The firm’s footprint and presence has strengthened nationally, we now have a very significant presence in London and in all our client markets we are major players.”