Headcounts
To help firms benchmark their practice management teams, the MPF regularly collects and publishes data on practice management professionals working for professional firms worldwide.
UK LAW
The largest 100 firms by size have a total of 17,621 practice management professionals, representing 24.7.8% of their headcount. Click here to download headcounts by firm.
Average number of client service professionals
(‘fee earners’) for each practice management
professional by discipline and size of firm.
| Size of firm (‘fee earners’) |
>1,000 |
500-1,000 |
250-500 |
130-250 |
All firms |
| Corporate management |
191.2 |
99.9 |
126.4 |
113.0 |
126.4 |
| Marketing/Business development/PR |
25.0 |
25.1 |
31.3 |
32.1 |
28.3 |
| HR/Training |
20.5 |
22.6 |
27.3 |
27.9 |
24.2 |
| Knowledge management/ Library/Research/PS lawyers |
13.2 |
21.5 |
27.3 |
32.8 |
20.7 |
| IT |
7.9 |
10.6 |
15.2 |
18.8 |
11.4 |
| Finance/Accounts/Insurance/compliance |
11.6 |
11.6 |
11.9 |
10.0 |
11.4 |
| Facilities (Reception/ Security/ Canteen/ Cleaners/Filing etc) |
6.2 |
6.8 |
6.7 |
6.1 |
6.5 |
| Secretarial |
2.9 |
2.5 |
2.2 |
2.1 |
2.4 |
UK ACCOUNTANCY
The largest 36 firms by size have a total of 12,421 practice management professionals, representing 20.7% of their headcount. Click here to download headcounts by firm.
Average number of client service professionals
(‘fee earners’) for each practice management
professional by discipline and size of firm
| Size of firm (‘fee earners’) |
>1,000 |
500-1,000 |
250-500 |
130-250 |
All firms |
| Corporate management |
1,350.6 |
182.5 |
211.7 |
617.3 |
743.1 |
| Knowledge management/ library/research |
82.1 |
573.6 |
238.1 |
411.5 |
95.5 |
| Marketing/business development/PR/sales support |
39.4 |
41.8 |
57.7 |
58.8 |
40.8 |
| Facilities (reception/ security/ canteen/ cleaners/print room/filing) |
51.5 |
20.8 |
15.1 |
16.5 |
38.7 |
| HR/training |
28.7 |
50.2 |
47.6 |
49.4 |
30.9 |
| IT (incl IT training) |
26.4 |
29.5 |
29.8 |
26.0 |
26.8 |
| Finance/accounts/insurance/compliance |
27.1 |
24.2 |
21.6 |
24.0 |
26.4 |
| Secretarial |
11.5 |
8.4 |
8.0 |
7.5 |
10.7 |