China’s elite law firms are dramatically outperforming their large domestic rivals, exclusive research by The Lawyer has found.
The Lawyer’s annual China Elite 2016 report, which will be released next week, revealed that average revenue per lawyer (RPL) has shot up among the country’s elite firms in the last year.
Meanwhile, RPL at Chinese national firms is lagging behind.
The report, now in its third edition, found that the top 30 highest-grossing Chinese firms achieved strong revenue across the board in 2015. But the increase in average RPL was at a much slower rate.
As a group, the top 30 firms’ total revenue in 2015 reached RMB20.2bn (£2.1bn), up 30 per cent from RMB15.6bn in 2014. The average annual turnover of the top 30 firms was RMB672m last year compared to RMB518m in the previous year.
However, in terms of RPL, the group’s average only increased by 8.7 per cent from RMB805,000 to RMB875,000.
This year’s report revealed that many of the large national firms grew their topline figures through lateral hires and acquisitions of small local firms or teams.
At the top end of the scale, the the elite firms have instead zeroed in on improving fee-earning on a per capita basis.
Eight firms posted a RPL figure of more than RMB2m last year, compared to only three in 2014. The average RPL of these eight firms in 2015 was RMB2.77m, representing a 21 per cent jump from the 2014 average of RMB2.29m.
Beijing litigation boutique Tiantong & Partners continued to lead the RPL ranking table, with an estimated average revenue of RMB4.4m per lawyer. JunHe, Slaughter and May’s best friend in China, had the second best performance with a RPL figure of RMB3.4m. Shanghai banking and finance boutique Llinks came third at RMB3.3m.
The 2015 average RPL of these eight firms in 2015 (RMB2.77m) is more than three times the average of the top 30 group (RMB875,000) in the same year.
In 2014, the RPL of the eight firms was 284 per cent of the top 30 average. This means the RPL difference between the top eight firms by RPL and the top 30 largest firms by revenue expanded by RMB278,000 from RMB906,000 to RMB1.18m or 10 per cent.
| Law firms (RPL above RMB2000k) | RPL 2014 (RMB k) | RPL 2015 (RMB k) | % increase y-o-y |
| Tiantong & Partners | 3,750 | 4,444 | 19% |
| JunHe | 3,067 | 3,411 | 11% |
| Llinks | 2,661 | 3,324 | 25% |
| HuiZhong | 1,667 | 2,286 | 37% |
| Jingtian & Gongcheng | 1,646 | 2,254 | 37% |
| Fangda Partners | 1,909 | 2,171 | 14% |
| Haiwen & Partners | 1,792 | 2,167 | 21% |
| Han Kun | 1,818 | 2,119 | 17% |
| Average | 2,289 | 2,772 | 21% |
For more detailed intelligence on the best performing Chinese firms by revenue, revenue growth, RPL and RPL growth and much more, secure your copy of the The Lawyer China Elite 2016, released on 26 September 2016.
Call Richard Edwards on 0207 970 4672 or email at richard.edwards@centaurmedia.com
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