Which is New Zealand’s Top Revenue-Producing Firm?
A survey of the ‘fastest-growing law firms’ has a two-director law firm in winning place and a one-director firm in second. It begs the question of just how fast the largest law firms in New Zealand are growing – and which firms are the biggest.
The winning firms comprise small, often sole-director firms like Russell Legal and Convey Law with the largest of the eight winners being K3 Legal with eight directors, followed by seven-partner firm Denham Bramwell.
Whilst surveys of this kind are always useful, the focus upon fast-growing firms that have only small boutiques and solo practices is hardly representative of the New Zealand legal landscape.
It can be notoriously difficult to obtain information about law firm revenues where there is no reporting on figures as there is with large UK law firms, for instance.
Law firms in the UK must report revenue to comply with regulatory obligations that enable stakeholders to assess their financial health and performance. That is not the case in New Zealand and ‘surveys’ like the NZ Lawyer effort are only going to see small or solo firms participating to any extent – which can help elevate their profile.
LawFuel’s investigations of the business indicate that the largest law firms in the country by revenue show Chapman Tripp as the highest revenue generating law firm, followed by Bell Gully, Russell McVeagh, Simpson Grierson and MinterEllisonRuddWatts.
The order cannot be firmly established due to the inaccessibility of the revenue and financial information, however we are confident in claims Chapman Tripp as the top revenue-achieving law firm.
The survey from NZ Lawyer indicates the New Zealand law business is worth $4.7 billion in 2024 and has seen a modest 1.2 percent growth over the past year and reports on high growth among smaller firms with 75 percent growth in new partners among the ‘fast firms’ and 57 percent growth in revenue.
The survey from NZ Lawyer has looked at various challenges facing law firms such as talent shortage, as well as the factors that have helped create growth, such as embracing technology, flexible working arrangements and ‘client centric’ approach to work – ie the sort of practices used by law firms globally in the current legal market.
Leading Fast Firms
The survey methodology involved the request for information from the participating law firms as to growth in revenue, headcount etc, but whilst the publishers reference boutique and larger law firms in fact all of the eight winning firms are boutiques.
- Russell Legal: Specializing in construction disputes and class action litigation, with 57% revenue growth.
- Convey Law: Leader in digital conveyancing, with 2% revenue growth and 33% growth in fee earners.
- Apogee Legal: Whakatane-based firm owned by director Carolyn Cooper.
- Copeland Ashcroft Law: Five partner employment law firm.
- Denham Bramwell: Seven partners
- iCLAW: Five partner Waikato-based firm.
- K3 Legal: Eight directors providing a multi-disciplinary service role.
- LegalVision NZ: Part of the Australian-based LegalVision ‘new law’ firm, providing contract and other services.
The 8 ‘winners’ may be top firms with fine lawyers, but a survey of the fastest growing firms, to be meaningful, must include the mid- and top-level law firms that reflect wider economic and financial circumstances. Measuring performance among the larger firms is a true measure of ‘growth’, coming as they are off a base that comprises more than a small handful of capable lawyers in an equally small cohort of small firms.
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