Osborne Clarke has reported a 15% UK revenue increase and 14% internationally, as its cites investment in technology as a key strategic priority – including becoming the first EMEA firm to implement iManage with Microsoft Office 2016 and Windows.
The firm saw its 2017/18 revenue increase from £121m in 2016/17 to £139.3m in 2017/18 in the UK.
In addition to revenue growth, in the UK net profit and profit per equity partner (PEP) increased 17% and 11% respectively, up to £61.2m and £711k in 2017/18.
Internationally it achieved an income of €273m.
Investment in recruitment, innovation and technology are all cited as top of the agenda:
Innovation – The business financed a new client service innovation team and set up a new business unit called Osborne Clarke Solutions, a bespoke shared technology platform. The firm created the brand, office space and operating model during the last year.
Technology – In 2017, Osborne Clarke was the first EMEA firm to implement iManage with Microsoft Office 2016 and Windows. The firm also achieved the UK Government’s Cyber Essentials Plus standard accreditation and accredited the UK LLP to the International Organisation for Standardisation’s (ISO) Information Security Management (27001:2013) standard in 2017. It is a brilliant sign of the times that these investments are flagged in the firm’s summary of the highlights of the year.
Recruitment – This year Osborne Clarke appointed 32 international Partners across Europe and Asia, of whom nearly a fifth (19 per cent) are female and the UK also made five partner and two legal director promotions in May 2018.
Ray Berg, UK managing partner at Osborne Clarke commented: “Investing is a key priority for our leadership team. We really see ourselves as the custodians of the business for the future generations so we want to ensure Osborne Clarke continues to deliver on the expectations of our people and our clients.”
The firm continued to target new international markets in 2017 and in addition to opening in Sweden Osborne Clarke expanded in Asia by entering Mainland China and admitting new Shanghai-based firm, Zhang Yu & Partners, to its international network. The firm’s relationship firm, BTG Legal, also opened an office in Bangalore.
Simon Beswick, international CEO of Osborne Clarke said: “This year marks an important milestone as we set our international expansion plans in 2012. It’s been an exciting five years – and working closely with our affiliates, we’ve opened 21 offices in 11 markets across the US, Europe and Asia. We’ve evolved our sector-first strategy and consolidated our focus in the areas which we feel are really impacting on our clients’ businesses both today and in the future. We’ve achieved excellent levels of growth and we’re proud our strategy has continued to pay off.”
