Fee income boost for Browne Jacobson's advocacy arm

A decade after being authorised to host barrister pupillages, Browne Jacobson’s advocacy arm has announced an 18% growth income for 2019-2020.

Browne Jacobson was one of the first UK law firms to be authorised under the Access to Justice Act 2000 to take full pupillages. 

Launched in 2010, the firm said the scheme significantly contributed to its fee income growth, which reached £1.8m for the last financial year.

Over the 10-year period, the team at BJ Barristers has grown from three to 20, with 10 fulltime barristers; and since being formally accredited, nine pupils have so far completed their pupillages with the outfit. 

Head of BJ Barristers Fiona Butler said: “Our decision to offer an inhouse pupillage scheme a decade ago was a game changer and one of the key drivers behind our growth.”  

She added that though it is structured and operates no differently to a traditional chambers, BJ Barristers has the added advantage of “being aligned to a national powerhouse”. 

“This”, she said, “enables us to take a more structured and efficient approach to supporting the firm’s clients by working hand in glove with our solicitor colleagues at the outset of a case.”

The advocacy arm currently represents more than 60 insurance clients, 150-plus local authorities and various government bodies and healthcare organisations including NHS England.

High profile matters range from serious case review deaths and the regulatory prosecution of the headteacher who employed one of the London Bridge attackers to teach in a school.