Turnover (£m): 90.3

Average PEP: 403

Equity spread (£k):263-523

Profit margin (%): 24

RPL (£k): 249

Vision –
Execution –
Governance –

Osborne Clarke’s recent push to drive up quality has included ­internal restructurings, ­management overhauls and a ‘sector-first’ approach. Its back-office outsourcing arrangement with Integreon is the highest-profile example of its internal rejigging, while its sector focus, which includes targeting projects work, has also borne fruit. All this paid off last year, with Osborne Clarke posting an 8 per cent growth in revenue to £90.3m and an average profit per equity ­partner of £403,000, up a notch from £393,000 in 2009-10.

Keeping an eye on working capital has also long been integral. Managing partner Simon Beswick is evangelical about the ­importance of making individual partners responsible for getting bills out and paid. Indeed, remuneration is partly conditional on ­hitting working capital targets. The evidence that this works lies in Osborne Clarke’s lockup. At the 2010-11 year-end the firm had an average lockup of just 79.8 days, consisting of 34.1 days work-in-progress and 45.7 days of debtors.

‘Efficient’ also describes the management structure. Beswick sits on a small policymaking partnership council with just senior partner Tim Birt, four heads of location and two non-executives. Beswick also sits on the six-person executive board with the heads of the four core practice areas and head of markets Greg Leyshon. There is no remuneration committee: the executive board makes pay ecommendations to the partnership council to either approve or query.

Last year Osborne Clarke simplified its partnership structure by introducing a single type of fixed-share partner. They enter the ­equity on a four-year progression, the profit share increases each year in equal stages (4, 8, 12 and 16 per cent of a full share). Full equity partners enter the lockstep on 60 points, moving up 10 points a year until reaching 100.