Deloitte research shows 2.8% rise in fee income for UK top 100

The UK's top 100 law firms saw a marginal increase in fee income over the third quarter of 2010-11, with research from professional services firm Deloitte showing an average increase of 2.8% compared with the same period last year.

The accounting giant's quarterly legal sector survey found wide disparity in revenue growth over the three-month period ending 31 January depending on the size of the firm, with the top half of the table outperforming those at the bottom.

Revenues at the top 50 firms increased by 6%, with those in the bottom 50 seeing fee income stay broadly static. The top 10 UK law firms saw revenues increase by only 2.2%.

Looking at revenues for the first three quarters of the year, average fee income across the whole of the top 100 was up by around 3.5% compared with the same period in 2009-10.

Deloitte associate partner Jeremy Black (pictured) commented: "The average across the top 100 looks benign but it's misleading as there's a lot of variation. 2009-10 was a really difficult year and while this year is more stable, it's still a difficult market. Where there has been growth it has tended to be on the back of higher numbers of fee earners rather than more chargeable hours or better rates."

Deloitte's research found that across the top 100 chargeable hours per fee earner increased by 2.8%, while fees per fee earner were up by less than 1%, indicating a decrease in hourly rates over the period.

Broken down by size, fees per fee earner increased in the top half of the table and fell marginally in the bottom half. For the top 10 law firms, average quarterly fees per fee earner stood at £81,000, compared with £69,000 across the top 50. The equivalent figure for the bottom half of the top 100 stood at £41,000.