Turnover and profits rose at Hull law firm Hudgell Solicitors last year, in what marked a successful year for the personal injury specialist.
The business, which has offices in Hull’s Fruit Market area, said it had put a new focus on attracting better quality work, and was “in better shape” to face challenges in the legal sector.
Turnover at the firm, led by Neil Hudgell, rose to £11.1m in the year ending March 31, 2019 – up from £10.7m.
Pre-tax profits rose from £141,737 to £437,488, in a year which also saw Hudgell Solicitors named in the top 200 biggest UK law firms for the first time.
Mr Hudgell wrote in recently-filed accounts: “Neil Hudgell Ltd had a good trading year with a focus on attracting better quality work through solicitor networks, and less through agency spend…
“The business is now in better shape to face the trading challenges which continue to present in the injury market place, particularly from increased competition and also due to final run-off of more lucrative success fees following government legislative change in 2013.
“A significant opportunity to capitalise on both experienced staff in the north-western recruitment market and books of work for sale was seized, with the opening of a new office in prestigious St Peter’s Square, Manchester.”
Last year, Hudgell Solicitors broke into the UK’s biggest 200 law firms list for the first time.
The list, compiled by The Lawyer magazine, is the most detailed analysis of the UK’s biggest firms, and is published after months of data collection, interviews and research into the performance and financial health of solicitors.
More recently, Hudgell Solicitors also completed the acquisition of clinical negligence cases from a trio of other law firms, as it relaunched its “We Buy Any Files” initiative.
Mr Hudgell said of the firm’s 2018/19 year: “The annual independent guide in the legal profession, Legal 500, hailed Neil Hudgell Ltd as firmly established as a national leader in supporting people who suffer life-changing injuries with a growing national reputation for police misconduct claims.
Hudgell Solicitors is headquartered in offices at Hull’s @TheDock development.
The firm employs around 130 people.
Looking ahead, Mr Hudgell said: “The year ahead promises more recalibration in the injury sector of the legal market, but Neil Hudgell Ltd is well-placed to capitalise on the changes as a national leader…
“Continued overhead control and outcome focussed litigation monitoring, alongside USP of meaningful rehabilitation every step of the way, to optimise the client journey where client care is pivotal to every client matter places the business in good stead for the year ahead.”
