PRESS RELEASE: 8th March 2017
UK Legal Services Market Report 2017, 7th edition:
The UK Legal Services Market Report 2017 from IRN Research, now in its seventh year, provides a
market review of the UK legal services market.
Key headlines:
 A decline in annual UK legal services market revenue overall for only the
second time in the last decade but some sectors performing better than
others
 Law firm numbers have declined by 6% since 2012 but little change in
numbers in the last 2 years
 Consumer sectors like personal injury and wills & probate will face the
greatest pressures on revenues and margins going forward
 Our forecasts have been revised downwards from last year and our
expectation is for low single digit revenue growth in 2017 and 2018
 A survey of legal practitioners working in consumer law suggests that the
majority are expecting revenue growth in the next 12 months but a third are
predicting no growth.
The UK legal services market (including private practice firms, barristers, patent agents, and other legal
services providers) was valued at an estimated £31.5bn in 2016 and this is a decrease from 2015. The large
law firms continued to see revenue growth and it has been in the medium and small law firm sectors where
revenues have been hit.
By far the largest segment in the UK market is legal work for business and commercial affairs (including
commercial property) accounting for 45% of total market revenue and most of the high-value work in this
segment is undertaken by the larger law firms. The largest consumer law segments are personal
injury/accident/medical negligence work, and family law, contributing an estimated 11% and 8%
respectively of UK market revenue. Residential conveyancing and employment law generate around 7% and
6% of the total market value per year.
The personal injury market continues to be the consumer legal market facing the greatest pressure with
further regulatory changes introduced at the start of 2017. Other consumer sectors are under pressure
from the spread of fixed fees, more competition, and increases in court/tribunal fees. Major cuts in legal
aid are impacting on various consumer law markets.
This year’s report includes results from a survey of 150 legal practitioners working in four consumer law
areas: conveyancing; family law; personal injury; wills and probate. Overall, the results suggest that the
majority of those working in consumer law – 6 out of 10 - have experienced both volume and value growth
in their practice areas in the last 12 months. However, many of those working in personal injury have
suffered with only 4 out of 10 experiencing volume growth in the last 12 months.
Looking ahead to the next 12 months, a majority are expecting to witness revenue growth in their practice
area but of some concern is the fact that a third are expecting no change.
In the next year or so, law firms are likely to continue to look more closely at controlling costs while more
law firms and legal services providers will explore options such as unbundling of services and a contractor
role in B2B legal markets: as major clients invest more in-house, these clients will increasingly seek to
unbundle legal services and buy-in only certain legal services (presumably those that can be provided at
lower cost/greater expertise by external providers). This will make the legal market much more competitive
and it opens opportunities for small and medium sized law firms to specialise in specific service areas and
become stronger competitors to the large generalist legal firms.
Legal firms will increasingly adopt new IT systems as a way of reducing their operating costs and this in turn
is likely to change the business models of some legal firms.
The full report, The UK Legal Services Market 2017 (86pp, PDF), is available directly from IRN
Research, priced at £400/€450/US$487. UK sterling price is plus VAT so total price is £480.
The report has sections for: industry overview; legal services timeline; market sizes and trends; market
segments; key issues in the market; key players; primary research – practitioner survey; market forecasts
from 2016 to 2021. See Contents Page on next page.
IRN Research
Established in 1991 in the UK, IRN Research is a full-service market research consultancy. IRN
Research has a particular focus on the legal services market offering a range of bespoke research
services, on an ad-hoc and continuous basis, to law firms and suppliers to the sector. These
services include client satisfaction surveys, market studies and competitor intelligence, and
strategic studies.
For further information on the report or our research services contact David Mort on +44(0)7905
239599 or [email protected]. URL: www.irn-research.com
IRN Research (trading name of IRN Consultants Ltd), 60 Eastern Green Rd, Coventry CV5 7LH
United Kingdom
THE UK LEGAL SERVICES MARKET 2017 (7th edition)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .............................................................................................................................................
UK LEGAL MARKET TIMELINE ...................................................................................................................................
MARKET STRUCTURE ...............................................................................................................................................
A mostly regulated market ............................................................................................................................................
Many sub-markets .........................................................................................................................................................
The number of law firms ...............................................................................................................................................
Personnel numbers .......................................................................................................................................................
MARKET DEVELOPMENTS ........................................................................................................................................
Brexit .............................................................................................................................................................................
The CMA calls for more price transparency ..................................................................................................................
CMA findings build on existing pressure for fixed fees .................................................................................................
Efforts to reduce the number of full trials .....................................................................................................................
Greater use of technology .............................................................................................................................................
Civil Courts Structure Review ........................................................................................................................................
Medco and the Claims Portal Reforms ..........................................................................................................................
Government confirms further reforms of the personal injury market ..........................................................................
Probate fees to increase in 2017 ...................................................................................................................................
The Financial List makes its first ever judgement ..........................................................................................................
ABS sector continues to develop ...................................................................................................................................
Separation of legal regulators from their representative bodies ..................................................................................
SRA proposals that solicitors be allowed to engage in unregulated activities ..............................................................
THE KEY PLAYERS .....................................................................................................................................................
The Top 100 ...................................................................................................................................................................
The Top 10 .....................................................................................................................................................................
Acquisitions and mergers ..............................................................................................................................................
Top 5 UK Law Firms – Profiles .......................................................................................................................................
Selected Other Legal Services Providers ........................................................................................................................
Consumer Law Firms ....................................................................................................................................................
MARKET SIZE AND TRENDS ......................................................................................................................................
Legal firms experience a decline in turnover in 2016 ....................................................................................................
2016 the second worst year in a decade .......................................................................................................................
With barristers experiencing the biggest rollercoaster of sales ....................................................................................
MARKET SEGMENTATION ........................................................................................................................................
Corporate, financial and commercial law ......................................................................................................................
International litigation and dispute resolution ..............................................................................................................
Personal Injury ...............................................................................................................................................................
Commercial and residential property, including conveyancing .....................................................................................
Wills, trusts and probate ...............................................................................................................................................
Family law ......................................................................................................................................................................
Employment law ............................................................................................................................................................
PRACTITIONER RESEARCH........................................................................................................................................
Volume growth holds up in most consumer law sectors ...............................................................................................
Weaker revenue prospects in PI and wills/probate ......................................................................................................
THE FUTURE.............................................................................................................................................................
An uncertain future .......................................................................................................................................................
New personal injury rules could cause a reduction in law firm numbers ......................................................................
More flexible market where large firms may take on a contractor role .......................................................................
Controlling costs will be a top priority ...........................................................................................................................
The end of the partnership business model ..................................................................................................................
Technology set to play a growing role ...........................................................................................................................
More mergers ................................................................................................................................................................
Forecasts .......................................................................................................................................................................
PROFESSIONAL BODIES AND REGULATORY AUTHORITIES .......................................................................................