Ambitious partners spend extra month and half in the office compared with 2014

Law firm partners now work 263 more hours a year than just two years ago, new research has found.

Legal recruiter Laurence Simmons discovered that partners spend an extra six and a half weeks in the office, based on a typical 40 hours working week.

This equates to an extra two and one quarter hours each week compared to 2014, and a five-and-a-half-hour increase on 2013.

The additional time is in part attributed to an increase in demand for legal services, creating new business opportunities for firms. In the past year, the biggest firms have seen revenues increase.

According to Deloitte, revenues of the UK's ten largest firms grew by 6 per cent over the past 12 months to October 2015. Meanwhile the revenues of those ranked 11 to 25 rose by 2 per cent.

With firms capitalising on new business opportunities, Laurence Simmons expects revenues to continue rising but warned of the competition from alternative business structures (ABSs).

Clare Butler, global managing director at the recruiter, said: 'New business opportunities are ripe for the picking but lawyers will also be looking over their shoulders since the Legal Services Act, which has opened up the sector to increased competition.'

Butler added that law firms are now vying the Big Four accountancy firms for the same clients.

'Partners have been fighting back by nurturing current client relationships and seeking out new opportunities and will continue to do so,' she said.

'Despite this change we predict the legal sector will remain strong - for example, the Magic Circle has retained its presence and prestige notwithstanding stiff competition from the USA in recent years.'

The increased work ethic of partners might have something to do with their firm's finance departments 'hawkishly looking' at balance sheets to identify which high earners were failing to bring in fees, remarked Butler.

While partners' hours have increased, just 46 per cent of all lawyers said putting in long shifts was essential to getting to the top of the legal pyramid.

Junior or newly qualified lawyers now work just under 47 hours per week, compared to 45 minutes longer in 2013/14.

The findings suggest a decrease in the trend of presenteeism and a change in attitude from junior lawyers as they become more confident about their futures.