Big Four professional services firm PwC has reported growing demand for new types of legal support, as it celebrates a 25% jump in group profit.

Teresa Owusu-Adjei, head of legal at PwC UK, said companies are increasingly seeking to improve the cost efficiency and value of their legal functions. ‘This resulted in rising and sustained demand across all of our NewLaw services, including legal function transformation, managed legal services, legaltech integration, contract review and remediation, and company secretarial and governance services,’ she said.

Pw c

Group profit at the Big Four professional services firm has risen by 25% to almost £1.2bn

Source: iStock

She added that the firm has seen growing demand for legal support on corporate restructurings and for deals-related strategic legal advice, ‘as part of the deals-led recovery driving activity across our wider firm’.

PwC today reported that group profit for the financial year is up 25% at £1.17bn, while gross revenue for the year ended 30 June 2021 increased by 2% to £4.45bn. Profit per partner has reached its highest ever at £868,000, up from £685,000 in 2020 and £765,000 in 2019.

The firm declined to provide figures for its legal services arm. However, its tax division – which includes legal services – reported revenue of £1.07bn, in line with the previous year.

The highest global revenue figure posted by a law firm this year is £2.17bn by DLA Piper. The magic circle practices have reported turnover of between £1.59bn and £1.83bn, with profits ranging from £716m to £822m.