Wagland: Growth trend continues at pace
Two fee-share law firms have topped the table for hiring lawyers ahead of big traditional firms, as the model continues to attract new recruits in large numbers.
Codex Edge’s annual report on ‘platform’ law firms said it was “notable that the vast majority of hires” to fee-share practices came from traditional law firms, though for the first time more lawyers joined from in-house legal departments than went the other way.
But it warned that this pace of growth would start to bring problems.
Setfords hired 189 lawyers last year, up from 150 in 2023 and more than any other law firm, followed by the fee-share side of ‘hybrid’ firm Taylor Rose with 108.
They were followed by listed firm Knights with 98 new hires, Addleshaw Goddard (96), US firm Paul Weiss (84) and both DWF and Keystone Law, another fee-share firm (83). Yet another fee-share firm, gunnercooke, was eighth (74); CMS (69) and Clyde & Co (68) rounded off the top 10.
The figures only include hires, not additions through acquisitions, and are gross in that they do not reflect how many left.
Among larger fee-share firms, W Legal had the best retention rate (97%) but Setfords only the 10th (88%).
More than twice as many lawyers opted to leave traditional law firms to move to fee-share firms than moved in the opposite direction.
The report said: “It is notable that the vast majority of hires by platform firms still come from traditional firms. This demonstrates the ongoing growth potential of the sector as ‘cannibalisation effects’ are still relatively low, with hiring from other platforms representing less than 20% of the total number of hires made.”
More than six out of 10 of the new recruits came from law firms outside the top 200; 16% came from the top 50 law firms and just 6% from in-house legal departments.
Researchers said it was “not surprising that in-house lawyers did not make the move in the numbers of their private practice counterparts”, but “for the first time more lawyers joined platform firms from in-house roles, than left to take them up”.
The report said the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the fee-share firms highlighted the “remarkable pace of growth” they continued to achieve.
Bexley Beaumont had the highest CAGR in 2024, with over 30%, followed by Setfords (28%) and Spencer West (24%). Among smaller firms (fewer than 30 lawyers), Carbon Law Partners grew the most, with CAGR of 56%.
“This acceleration reflects more than just increased lawyer number – it points to the growing commercial viability of platform models as a serious alternative to traditional legal structures.
“What is clear is that sustained growth at these levels requires robust operational infrastructure, meaningful support for lawyers, and a clear value proposition that resonates with professionals at all career stages.”
At the end of last year, the ‘big four’ in terms of size were Setfords with 587 lawyers, Taylor Rose (522), Keystone Law (519) and gunnercooke (418).
Then came Spencer West (240), Excello Law (204), Lawhive (161), Nexa Law (150) and Bexley Beaumont (82). This indicated “the increasing strength in depth of the sector as a whole”.
Residential and commercial property were by far the largest specialisms of consultants (1,011 and 867 lawyers respectively), followed by commercial litigation (506), corporate/M&A (367) and employment (359).
“What may have started as a model best suited to property or private client work has rapidly evolved into a broad-based alternative for lawyers across virtually every discipline,” the report noted.
Roger Wagland, chairman of Codex Edge, said the report, now in its third year, showed that the growth trend “continues at pace” but high growth, both at an individual firm level and across the entire platform firm sector, would “begin to bring a new set of questions and challenges”.
He went on: “The talent pool for lawyers with the right level of contacts and seniority within any given specialism is not unlimited. As more firms turn to the consulting model and existing platform firms continue to strive for growth inevitably the competition for talent will become more fierce.”
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