Annual revenues at Liverpool law firm Hill Dickinson rise 12% to £145.5m. Tony McDonough reports

Liverpool law firm Hill Dickinson is reporting a big rise in annual revenues and has advised on transactions worth more than £1.8bn in May to November this year.

St Paul’s Square-based Hill Dickinson has yet to post its full accounts on Companies House but, ahead of the publication, the firm has revealed a 12% increase in revenues to £145.5m in the 12 months to April 30, 2024.

When the accounts are posted they will also reveal the pre-tax profits figure which last year hit £46.1m. That performance saw its 141 partners share a windfall of more than £43m.

Hill Dickinson was established in 1810 and prospered due to the rapid growth of the Port of Liverpool. It employs around 950 people across 10 offices. They include four overseas in Hong Kong, Singapore, Piraeus and Monaco.

Maritime remains one of its key areas but it was the corporate team that has been the standout performer of the first half of the current financial year. That £1.8bn figure was spread across 95 completed transactions.

They covered sectors including professional services firms, manufacturing and life sciences. Significant transactions include the sale of Innovisk Capital Partners, a leading international supplier of specialist insurance services, to Chicago-based Ryan Speciality.

The team also advised Wirral-based EA Technology, which focuses  monitoring and management of electricity grids and assets, on securing investment from Nordic investment firm, Summa Equity.

Its corporate team saw a series of key partner hires, including the recruitment in early 2024 of James Harmer in London and of Nick Dawson and Emma Callow from Irwin Mitchell in order to establish a Birmingham team and.

In August Mark Johnson joined the London team from US firm, Haynes and Boone. There are now more than 100 lawyers in the firm’s national corporate team.

Ian Riggs, national head of corporate at Hill Dickinson, said: “The first half of our financial year has been a dynamic period for the national team, with involvement in a diverse array of UK and cross-border M&A, private equity, and public equity finance deals.

READ MORE: Law firm MSB breaks £10m revenue barrier for first time

“Activity has surged over the past couple of months, as teams across all of our offices worked at pace to complete transactions ahead of the October Budget, which introduced significant changes to the capital gains tax regime.”

Fiona Parry, head of business services at Hill Dickinson, added: “We’ve reached a record-breaking half-year milestone, with the total value of deals advised exceeding all previous benchmarks.”