Turnover (£m): 72

Average PEP: 650

Equity spread (£k): 338-1,100

Profit margin (%): 39

RPL (£k): 343

Vision –
Execution –
Governance –

A year after Travers Smith ­announced a 53 per cent ­increase in average profit per equity partner, the firm saw the figure dip by just under 8 per cent, from £705,000 to £650,000, during the 2010-11 financial year. Revenue ­remained flat at £72m.

Following a successful 2009-10, powered by an upturn in private equity, restructuring and litigation, ­maintaining the same levels has been tough. As a result Travers

has seen a drop in its profit margin, from 42 to 39 per cent.

Managing partner Andrew Lilley says the firm has not done badly given the market conditions, stressing that litigation had ­enjoyed a particularly strong year.

The firm received its first corporate instruction from the Bank of England when it was brought in to advise on the liquidation of Southsea Mortgage & Investment Company thanks to corporate partner Anthony Foster, who was previously on secondment at Threadneedle Street.

The firm operates a lockstep remuneration system, with an added profit pool for rewarding high-performing partners. As a means of saving cash Travers is lengthening salaried partners’ path to equity partnership by a year, from three to four years.

The firm is run by Lilley and senior partner Chris Carroll, along with partnership manager David Thomas, all of whom are ex ­officio board members. A seven-person elected management board consists of partners from a range of practice areas and includes Paris head David Patient. Three or four members are replaced every 18 months and there is a complete turnover of board ­members every three years.