Law firms outside Dublin registered strong fee growth over the past year, in particular in Connacht and Ulster, as they began to catch up on growth that had begun earlier in the capital, according to the latest data from the Law Society.
The survey, which was issued to managing partners in November 2015, saw two thirds of respondents indicating an increase in fee income, while 17 per cent indicated no change, and 16 reported a fall in fee income.
Coming year
Expectations for the coming 12 months were for a continuing increase in fee income. One-third of respondents expected an increase of more than 10 per cent, while slightly more than a third expected an increase of between 1 to 10 per cent, and 25 per cent anticipated little change.
The survey, carried out by the society in conjunction with Outsource, found a significant variation in practice costs between Dublin and other large urban areas, and the rest of the State.
The reasons for higher costs were cited as firms beginning to staff up again, salaries rising and property costs, including rent, increasing.
"Increased activity levels are being matched by a rapidly rising cost base that, in many cases, is eroding the improvement in performance," according to the Law Society Gazette. "Many report that they are running faster to stand still. The challenge has definitely shifted in Dublin from work being hard to source to finding staff to service that work."
While residential and commercial conveyancing was one of the largest growth areas, there was significant doubt about whether residential property work was profitable.
