Turnover (£m): 11.2
RPL (£k): 190

This 29-partner West Midlands firm’s financial year ends on 31 October, but Higgs & Sons ­anticipates a turnover figure of £11.2m, up by 12.4 per cent on 2009-10’s £10m.

Personal injury saw the biggest turnover hike, up by 29.2 per cent. Other increases were in corporate (23 per cent), employment (22 per cent) and commercial property (5 per cent).

Higgs operates out of offices in Brierley Hill and Kingswinford, with lawyers numbering 59 out of 78 fee-earners and 154 staff. In February 2010 it moved its Brierley Hill team from three buildings into one.

It managed to improve financial discipline slightly during the past year, cutting work-in-progress from 115 to 110 days and total debtor days from 60 to 58.

The firm remunerates equity partners using a lockstep system whereby partners who have been on the lockstep for three years earn an equal amount. All of the 16 current equity ­partners have been at the firm for at least three years, and so are on parity.