The predictable recovery grinds into gear

I'm not planning on writing much about results this year because there isn't much to say that wasn't obvious a long time ago. In the wake of the banking crisis, the 2008-09 year delivered a jolt to law firm finances and led to a string of dramatic restructurings. But it has been apparent for at least six months that major law firms have been hauling themselves into recovery mode, in relative terms at least.

The first indications for 2009-10 do nothing to change the sense that law firms have passed the worst, having now stripped down their cost bases for less bountiful years ahead. In essence, the UK's top 25 firms are generally falling into two not-dissimilar camps. On one hand you have practices expected to hold steady or marginally increase their turnover. Probably the larger group, certainly the one that includes more of the largest City and national law firms, is set for marginal falls in revenue against 2008-09.