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The rate has slowed from the levels achieved in the previous two quarters, however, according to the latest figures from business advisory firm Deloitte.

Deloitte’s Quarterly Legal Sector Survey found that fee income growth in Q3 was 10.6 per cent compared with growth rates of 12.5 per cent and 15.1 per cent in Q2 and Q1 respectively. 

Average chargeable hours per fee earner have fallen across all firms within the sector, however, indicating firms do have capacity to take on more work.

Jeremy Black, associate partner in Deloitte’s Professional Practices group said that the results of the survey showed that, in broad terms, City lawyers continued to be relatively busy which he called “extremely positive in the face of some gloomy predictions”.

Black added, “Our survey has, once again, highlighted that there is an increasing polarisation of the sector as the larger firms continue to outperform the smaller firms.”

On average, fees per fee earner are up by 3.7 per cent across the Top 25 firms, but have only increased by 1.6 per cent across other firms in the Top 100.

Based on the strong first 9 months performance there is general consensus amongst firms that double digit growth will be achieved for the annual results to 30 April 2008 across the sector as a whole.

The survey provides regular up to date information on the performance of a significant segment of the legal sector.

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Related links

• Deloitte