Partners at Hill Dickinson will share a £43m windfall as the Liverpool law firm reports its sixth consecutive year of revenue growth, with one partner pocketing almost £1m. Tony McDonough reports

Liverpool law firm Hill Dickinson is reporting annual revenues of £129.6m, an 8.2% rise on the previous year and a sixth consecutive year of revenue growth.

Hill Dickinson, which has its headquarters in St Paul’s Square in the city’s commercial district, has posted its annual accounts on Companies House in the last few days covering the 12-month period to April 30, 2023.

They reveal pre-tax profits of £46.1m, almost identical to the previous year’s figure. Established in 1810, Hill Dickinson is an international commercial law firm which employs around 950 people across 10 offices.

Six of these are in the UK and four in Hong Kong, Singapore, Piraeus and Monaco. It is one of the UK’s top 50 law firms. 

Hill Dickinson is a limited liability partnership (LLP). An LLP is owned by its partners (referred to in this case as ‘members’) and Hill Dickinson has 141 partners. 

Thanks to the continued growth of the business they have shared a windfall of £43.3m, slightly less than the £43.6m they shared last year. Not all partners are remunerated equally. The highest paid partner this year has received £979,000.

In November, Hill Dickinson announced the retirement of chief executive and partner Peter Jackson after 40 years with the firm. He will step down on April 30. Current business services group (BSG) head Craig Scott will be the new CEO.

During the 12-month period, the firm saw growth across all of its practice areas. In particular, the BSG enjoyed an “exceptional” year and recorded a second consecutive year of record revenue growth.

In its report the firm added: “The group has shown particular strength in real estate and corporate transactional work over the past year.”

It went on: “The team’s expertise continues to enable some of the most dynamic businesses across the UK to unlock growth, with our corporate teams advising on approximately £4bn worth of deals across the year.”

Hill Dickinson’s health group also enjoyed a successful year and represents more than 200 NHS trusts and health organisations. It secured a number of key client reappointments and made a number of appointments to its senior team.

Since its foundation more than 200 years ago, Hill Dickinson has been a leading specialist in maritime law and today its presence in the marine sector is as strong as ever.

During the 12-month period the team was called upon to advise clients across the world on the business impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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“The conflict has, however, demonstrated the group’s strengths in sanctions with our team emerging as market-leading in the advice and support it has provided to clients throughout the course of the year,” the report said.

In conclusion it said: “In spite of the current economic uncertainty impacting some of our clients we have seen no deterioration in revenues below the level expected and the pipeline remains healthy.

“Indeed… we are continuing to see growth across all parts of our business.”