Reading & Southampton: Shoosmiths income up 27%

Law firm Shoosmiths has announced another successful set of financial results with fee income up to £95 million, a year on year increase of 27%.

Shoosmiths’ Thames Valley-based team has had a successful year since its move to the heart of Reading last May. It now has 17 partners, five of those in commercial property and an increased headcount of more than 120 at its Apex Plaza offices.

The corporate finance team has advised on more than 40 transactions in the last year whilst its dispute resolution and employment teams have seen revenue growth of more than 30% in that time in line with firm-wide performance.

“As an office and as a firm we have had an enormously exciting year,” commented head of Shoosmiths’ Thames Valley partner Dean Drew.

“We have consistently continued to expand the number of specialists in all our service areas but have been especially strong in corporate and commercial, commercial property, employment and dispute resolution.

“We are continuing to innovate and improve our processes to ensure we are able to retain our strong market position and to attract new clients.”

The firm showed solid growth in net profit too, with a 17% year on year increase to £16.3 million. This is the fourth year of sustained growth which has seen 35% compound annual growth in profits since the firm undertook a major strategic review in the 2002/03 financial year.

Drew continued: “Last month we unveiled 29 promotions which pushed the number of partners through the 100 mark to 105 for the first time and as a firm we are now the 9th largest in the UK by number of fee earners. Our approach to service delivery is also being recognised by other professionals and clients too which is hugely rewarding.”

In the past 12 months Shoosmiths has added a host of awards to its credentials including the Management Team of the Year from The Lawyer magazine and Regional Firm of the Year from Legal Week. It also entered the Top 20 law firms for real estate identified by The Lawyer Top 100 Survey and was shortlisted as “The Company Secretary’s Favourite Law Firm” in the Chambers and Partners AoB awards earlier this year.

Shoosmiths continues to demonstrate its longstanding commitment to inclusivity and recently became the first UK law firm to achieve the Committed2Equality accreditation.

Shoosmiths’ CEO Paul Stothard concluded: “Shoosmiths continues to amaze me with its achievements. I don’t think I have ever worked with so many talented people who are so determined to make their firm successful.”