Kate Wolstenholme

Its 30th Law Firms’ Survey showed that just under three-quarters of firms reported an increase in fee income with 76 per cent seeing profit increases. The findings are consonant with the figures from Scottish firms including Brodies and Shepherd and Wedderburn.

Elsewhere the report highlighted problems including the shortage of talent, deemed the biggest issue behind cyber risk for the top 100 firms. The analysis also found that 48 per cent of firms expect to reduce their office footprint in the short to medium term as working from home becomes the norm.

All firms that participated in the survey intend to retain a degree of virtual working once all pandemic restrictions are lifted. In the top 10, 67 per cent of firm’s expect 21-40 per cent virtual working, with the remaining 33 per cent being at 41-60 per cent. This pattern is reversed for firms outside the Top 10, with 41-60 per cent being the most common level of expected virtual working. There are a small number of firms outside the Top 10 (nine per cent) that expect staff to work virtually over 60 per cent of the time.

Kate Wolstenholme, PwC’s law firms’ advisory leader, said: “These are fast-moving and exciting times for UK law firms as they continue to adapt to operating flexibly.

“As we move forward, we will see how law firms best respond to challenges, both old and new, such as adopting hybrid working in a way that retains talent, capitalising on investment in technology and delivering on ESG promises including diversity and inclusion targets, climate-related goals and social responsibility.”