Clarion is continuing to see steady growth, achieving record turnover of £23.2m (for year ending 31st May 2021), up 18% from the previous year (2020: £19.6m). The Leeds-based law firm has maintained its upward trajectory over the last seven years with momentum increasing in its latest financial year as well as adding a further 41 colleagues to the team.
“While the last two years have been a challenging time for us and all of our clients, Clarion has proved able to maintain its growth unabated,” comments Roger Hutton, joint managing partner. “We are fortunate to have built a strong base of talented and engaged colleagues who have settled into a productive style of hybrid working. In fact, with many businesses pursuing new opportunities following the disruption of the pandemic, we have seen a positive trend and are growing alongside our clients. Our lawyers have been able to do what they do best in supporting our clients in challenging situations.
“Supporting privately owned businesses and their owners remains at the heart of the firm, and we are also seeing more and more demand for our services nationally. Growing numbers of large corporations are turning to us as our specialist teams expand and our expertise gains national recognition. Lawyers across Clarion, from our business, private wealth and matrimonial teams are recognised as leaders in their field in Legal 500 and Chambers. We are advising our clients on their needs internationally, working with handpicked law firms from across the world who share our values. The number of international transactions rose significantly during 2021.”
Hutton continues: “All of our transactional practices have put in a strong performance, driven by liquidity in the market. Both our corporate and real estate teams have enjoyed a particularly busy year, along with relatively new offerings such as our dedicated construction and property litigation practices also seeing strong growth as changes in the market demand transactional support.
“In addition, we have focussed on developing expertise in a number of industry sectors including energy, life sciences, food and drink, and digital marketing/data protection, where we have been able to build on our track record supporting our growing client base to meet their demand for real industry insight and expertise.
“As a business, we are proud that our financial results for 2020/21 once again show double-digit growth, continuing our solid track record. It is testament to the quality and commitment of the team that we have proved able to continue to achieve our pre-Covid objectives and I would like to thank every one of them for their contribution. Having seen many ups and downs in the economy over the years, as a firm, we look to the longer game and remain committed to investing for the future to enable us to continue to support client needs. We worked hard to ensure we maintained and continued to develop our strong culture, adjusting to hybrid and remote working.”
Hutton concludes: “We are also committed to developing and recognising talent. Over the last financial year, we made five partner appointments, three of which were internal promotions, with a further eight lawyers also receiving promotions. We also celebrated the first person to complete their paralegal apprenticeship with the firm to become a qualified paralegal.
“At Clarion, we believe that every business can, and should, play an active and valuable role in supporting the community in which it works, and we are proud of the fabulous initiatives our people lead on including volunteering, sponsorships, fundraising and mentoring as well as environmental and diversity projects and campaigns.”
