Sit a group of managing partners, researchers and journalists down at a table and what do you get? A mix of perspectives, a dose of banter and a bag full of insights into what is top of mind for law firm leaders right now.

The context for this September dinner was the latest Horizon Live event and the launch of The Lawyer’s UK 200 2024. Most of the managing partners and CEOs in the room had enjoyed a healthy year financially in 2023/24, with both revenue and profit increasing. One way this has been achieved is by hedging practices, with one partner pointing out that transactional work is still not as busy as it had been in 2021/22.

But there was some cautious optimism, with growth recovering at most firms after a slower 2022/23. Notably, the number of UK firms in The Lawyer’s City 50, which ranks both UK and US firms by the amount of revenue they generate in London, rose last year to 29. This is the highest it has been for several years and the first increase in the number of UK firms since 2020.

European offices have done especially well compared to the UK, several partners noted, amid all the UK economic difficulties, with a number of firms pleased to have hedged their bets here.

It’s all sounding very positive; but what is top of the concern list?

In one partner’s words, “tax, tax, and tax.” Clients are jumping to get as much as possible sorted ahead of expected announcements in the new Labour Government’s October budget, with concerns it will have negative financial implications for them.

Tech was also discussed as being a major challenge, as firms try to strike the balance of building and trying out new tools while also watching the market and trying to keep up.

NQ salaries was a key talking point, with at least 19 of the UK 50 firms now offering an NQ salary of more than £100,000 in London. One managing partner revealed how this has become a topic of contention among the partnership. It was clear there was a degree of uncertainty as to how sustainable it would be in the long term for the market to continue in this ever-upwards direction.

And the question that followed off that back of that was also clear: To what degree are US firms shaping the market? Most managing partners agreed that the US’s influence on the UK legal market has definitely been felt, particularly in driving salaries to a potential crunch point, but not all firms said they had been impacted by US firms poaching their talent.

However, the overall sentiment was that it is now much harder to stop people moving between peer firms.

As one managing partner summed up, “when you’ve got that kind of money, you can afford to be public about it”.

Read more highlights from the UK200:

The UK Top 100 is now available to read on the UK Legal Signal channel, while the full UK200 will be published later in October. Check out the UK200 hub for more content.