Weightmans report most successful year to date

National law firm, Weightmans, has reported its most successful year to date, following the announcement of its 23/24 financial results, continuing its strong growth trajectory.

The firm’s full 12 months’ trading* produced over £140m in income (12% increase on 22/23) and an £18m net profit (up by 41.1% on the previous year) – a record for the Top 40 law firm. PEP (profit per equity partner) is £391k for the 12-month period.

Strong results were delivered by all the firm’s seven key client segments. Six of the segments – Built Environment, Health, Individuals, Insurance, OMB and Public Bodies, all produced double digit growth in revenues to the previous year. Its Corporate segment grew by 6%.

Major financial and commercial success was reported in most service lines during the year, especially in employment, property litigation, regulatory and specialty insurance.

During the year the firm also launched CyXcel – its revolutionary new cyber consulting business which uniquely fuses legal and technical cyber expertise. This part of the business has exceeded all strategic objectives, with rapid growth including the expansion of its operations to open in North America in June 2024.

The overall performance means that all staff will benefit from a bonus of almost £3,000 each, recognising everyone’s contribution to the firm’s successful year.

John Schorah, Managing Partner, said:

“I am very proud of all the hard work and contributions made by our people to make this our most successful year ever. Their talent and unwavering support for each other continues to deliver great results for our clients and places the business in a very strong position as we make progress towards being a Top 30 law firm. The merger with RadcliffesLeBrasseur in 2022 has delivered significant organic growth for the firm in the second-year post merger in those areas we have combined, as well as delivering cost saving synergies. Independently of the merger we have also seen our other core areas do well.

“Of course, our financial figures are only part of our story, and it is great to see that our investment in our people continued to be recognised as we maintained our Top Employer status in the top 10 and our Top 75 Employer Index ranking at number 20. We are proud that this demonstrates our ongoing commitment to making law as accessible as possible through our various graduate and apprenticeship schemes, and intern programmes.

“The hard work has started again this year, and I am excited to see what we achieve together.”

During this year of organic, sustainable growth, Weightmans promoted 15 people to the partnership – bringing the firm’s total number of partners to 248 – and 12 to legal director. The firm also saw 15 lateral partners join in the year.

Elsewhere, Weightmans continued to make great strides in its long-held ambition to be one of the UK’s most socially and environmentally conscious law firms. It has already carried out a considerable amount of work to meet the objectives set out in its ESG strategy. In June 2024, the firm was awarded the highest Platinum rating by EcoVadis, placing Weightmans in the UK’s top 1% of professional services companies for sustainability and social responsibility. It has also reported a consistent year-on-year reduction in carbon emissions and maintained ISO14001 and ISO50001 certifications for environmental and energy management at its offices.

Earlier this year, the business also announced it had established a new ESG Advisory Group to ensure the business meets its many strategic priorities in this area, such as its commitment to becoming Net Zero by 2030.

In 23/24, Weightmans continued to invest in its people to create positive workplace environments. As a result, its commitment to apprentices was recognised at the Apprenticeship Guide Awards 2024, where Weightmans won Best Apprenticeship Programme in the Professional Services sector.

*Weightmans changed its financial reporting year to March 31, 2024, so ran to an 11-month financial period in 23/24. For that 11-month period, income increased to £128.44m and net profit was £16.49m. Either extrapolating those results for 12 months or adding the firm’s actual trading performance for April 2024 gives the figures cited above. The firm also demonstrated strong cash reserves, rising from £3.4m to £6.9m for the 11-month period.