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Record-breaking £84.3m turnover delivers 14% growth for Walker Morris

1st August 2025

Continued focus on key sectors and client service, alongside increasing investments in people and business operations unlock new panel and client opportunities in the UK and internationally, resulting in record revenue and profit growth in the year ended 30 April 2025.

Walker Morris remains on course to deliver its Ambition 27 £100m+ revenue target after another year of achievement. Key indicators at the end of Jeanette Burgess’ first year as Managing Partner, following her appointment on 1 May 2024, are:

Business Performance

Total revenue of £84.3m – the highest on record and the strongest ever year on year growth
14% revenue increase (£74m in FY 2023/24); over 50% revenue growth over the last five years
Net profit for the year up 11% to £37.5m, delivering a margin of 44% and PEP growth of 18%
Net cash flow from operational activities increases by 17%
Strong closing cash position and profitable performance continues to provide for ongoing investments in people and operational improvements, as well as funding accelerated tax payments under Basis Period Reform
25% of fees generated through international assignments
Sector portfolio continued to grow, with substantial revenue increases in Private Equity (34%), Food & Drink (38%) and Living (18%)
High levels of activity across all services-lines, with especially strong double-digit growth in Corporate, Commercial, Construction & Engineering, Infrastructure & Energy, Litigation, and Planning & Environment
On-track to achieving Net Zero by 2040, and reducing emissions by 42% by 2030

Investment in People

Three new external partner appointments in priority markets: Laura Gordon and Shane Toal (Energy & Infrastructure) and Daniel Glowacz (Real Estate)
20 internal promotions spanning all key practice areas (including our first female Muslim partner – Shabana Muneer, Head of Business Immigration)
Staff turnover the lowest in five years
88% trainee retention rate
26% of partners are female, up from 22%; 56% of all fee earners are now female
50% of new trainees have one or more RARE flags
Ongoing investment in innovation and legal processes with the appointments of Laura Pilkington as the firm’s first Innovation Lead, and Chief Information Officer, Julia Elliott.

Representative client mandates

The firm has won, retained and developed many significant clients over the last year, continued to grow market leading practice areas such as Construction, Finance, Litigation, M&A, Real Estate, and Regulatory and Sports law, and advanced its reputation in priority sectors such as Energy and Technology. Client assignments include:

ARGO Real Estate: £500 million ‘brown-to-green’ urban logistics platform
Audax Private Equity: $650m carve out acquisition of the clinical services division of NYSE-listed group, Avantor, Inc.
Borrowers and lenders: facilities in aggregate exceeding £14bn of debt
Close Brothers: Supreme Court case in respect of motor finance commissions
Endless: £60.4m sale of the remaining 70% of Menzies Distribution Limited to European parcel delivery group InPost
ENGIE: first business energy commission claim to reach the Court of Appeal; now on Appeal to the Supreme Court
Gilston Area: significant garden town development and planning permission for 10,000 dwellings and major infrastructure
Hochtief Solarpartner: ‘first of its kind’ rooftop solar PPA project forming part of a low-carbon student village
Ingå Group: (food ingredients division of Novax AB, the investment company of the Stockholm-based Axel Johnson Group), on its acquisition of MSK Ingredients & Equipment Limited
Leeds Bradford Airport:ongoing £100m terminal regeneration and expansion project (LBA:REGEN)
Mattioli Woods plc: £432m recommended takeover by subsidiary of funds managed by Pollen Street Capital
Mersey Tidal energy Project: advising on a development consent order application for a £multi-billion tidal barrage project
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: ‘test cases’ in respect of remediation orders and remediation contribution orders arising out of the Building Safety Act 2022
Premier League & EFL football clubs: regulation, governance, funding and numerous head coach, coaching/technical staff and other high profile employment appointments and exits
Trina Solar: (Shanghai Stock Exchange-listed world leader in solar technology), on acquisition of a 50% stake in the Bicker Fen energy project

After five years of consistent growth, the firm is now over 50% bigger than in 2019/20. Commenting on the latest results, Jeanette Burgess, Walker Morris Managing Partner, said:

“Delivering double-digit revenue and profit growth in an unpredictable climate is very pleasing and the result of us bringing even greater value to our client relationships. It is terrific to see that focus and hard work paying off with some key new client wins, broader relationships and a greater variety of more complex work. 25% of our income is generated outside of the UK and so the ongoing confidence clients have in us to deliver for them anywhere in the world, is critical.

“To make sure we fairly recognise and reward staff for their contributions, we have increased the size of our bonus pool by more than a third, with our best performers commanding a bonus of up to 35% of salary.

“We ended the year with all of our core service-lines and market groups maintaining the upward growth trajectory seen in prior years. That level of performance has continued into Q1 this year and we are actively looking to add to our bench-strength, particularly at Partner level, to meet the demand. These are all positive trends and provide us with real encouragement for the remainder of this year and beyond.”