Hill Dickinson operates across the UK in Liverpool, Manchester, London and Leeds and well as internationally from Piraeus in Greece, Singapore, Monaco and Hong Kong. Tony McDonough reports

Liverpool law firm Hill Dickinson says strong performances in its health and maritime divisions have helped push up annual revenues 10% to more than £90m.

Distributable profit also soared 20% to £16.8m with a 27% rise in profit-per-equity-partner to £370,000. The St Paul’s Square firm’s net cash position also stands at £7.6m – up from £600,000 a year ago.

Hill Dickinson operates across the UK in Liverpool, Manchester, London and Leeds and well as internationally from the port city of Piraeus in Greece, Singapore, Monaco and Hong Kong.

The firm has secured significant new clients wins, during the 12-month period to April 30, as well as panel reappointments. These included Crown Commercial Service, NHS Commercial Solutions, Axione, EMMAC Life Sciences, Sykes Cottages, Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Sovini Property Services.

Peter Jackson was reappointed as chief executive for a further four-year term to October 2024 and Jonathan Brown reappointed as chairman in November 2018. There has also been an extra 26 partners and legal directors appointed as well as an intake of 21 trainees and apprentices.

Mr Jackson said: “Our financial results for 2018-19 have exceeded all our expectations. They represent significant like-for-like growth across every single area of our business, with overall like-for-like turnover up by 10% year on year.

“Our health business in particular has continued to grow at a rate that outstripped all of our early budget predictions. Major new client wins, the growth of our Leeds office and a series of new hires across the board in health produced 32% growth in 2018-19, which is a spectacular achievement and demonstrates our increased profile and presence.

“We have also been fortunate in expanding our life sciences team very quickly with some key hires in this exciting area of the law, including work at the forefront of regulated innovation in gene therapy, AI-driven drug discovery, fertility and medicinal cannabis.

“Our strength in supporting technology, fast growth and owner-managed businesses from startup to IPO has enabled us to strengthen our offer and we have been listed as the fifth* highest ranked legal advisor to AIM companies – 33 in all.”

Mr Jackson said the year had also seen a return in confidence to its marine practice. Maritime has traditionally been one of Hill Dickinson main specialisms and he added there had been fresh recruitment of new people at all levels to the team, a surge in new instructions and greater work across its international office network. 

“The fact that we have already made up a significant proportion of the turnover gap created by the sale of our insurance group in 2017 to Keoghs, and that profits are already running at materially higher levels feels particularly significant,” he said.

“Our decision to focus on building on our core strengths and acting as trusted advisers to businesses across the commercial, health and marine sectors, means we are now building on a strong foundation for further growth.”